Email from Steve Tvedten of Get Set, Inc. to Lyndon Hawkins of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.   No Response received.

Questions have been asked of the California Department of Pesticide Control since Fontana Unified School District declined to consider a pesticide free IPM program because of the Department of Agriculture's opinion about only utilizing registered pesticides to eliminate pests.  The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has remained silent and not responded to these issues:

Subject:         True IPM
Date:             Tue, 23 Jun 1998 13:47:40 -0400
From:             Rosalind Tvedten <stvedten@earthlink.net>
Organization:    Get Set Inc.
To: hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov
CC:
Linda Jensen-Pascarella <lindap@idea4u.com>, Norma Grier <info@pesticide.org>,
Sandy Schubert <sandy@checnet.org>, "Robert L. Laing" <"71674,1365"@compuserve.com>,
"C. W. Gilbert" <blazingt@concentric.net>, Donnelly Hadden <dwhadden@umich.edu>,
"Eric W. Acosta" <EBugs@aol.com>, "Janette Sherman, M.D." <toxdocjs@aol.com>,
Jay Feldman <ncamp@igc.apc.org>, Merrill Clark <merrill@macatawa.org>,
Milton Weiss <lkweiss@juno.com>, Ray Neilson <circle-one@circle-one.com>,
"Robert K. Simon" <ETIRKS@aol.com>, "Doris J. Rapp, M.D." <djrapp933@pol.net>,
Robert McClintock <rmcclintock@northmont.k12.oh.us>, Will Snodgrass <lookusup@bigsky.net>,
Kenuel Okech Ogwaro <ecocareinter@mci2000.com>,
Cynthia Stoddard Fitzgerald <cfitzge562@aol.com>, cfitzge562@aol.com
 

Lyndon Hawkins

Dear Mr. Hawkins:

The only reason any government agency "registers" something is because that "something" is dangerous. That is why guns are registered. I believe pesticide poisons only need to be registered because they are or they contain dangerous volatile poisons and legally these poisons can never be called safe or non-toxic. Obviously, if any product used to control pests is safe and/or non-toxic, it simply is not logical or legally possible to call it (or register it as) a dangerous pesticide poison. "Registration" does not make a dangerous poison/gun "safe", nor does it "control" what it kills and injures. That is why I call the safe products I advocate and use Pestisafes® because they contain only naturally occurring materials that are all either non-toxic or (GRAS) Generally Recognized as Safe. Some people believe that under FIFRA anything that controls pests must be registered as a pesticide (poison); based on their logic all of my hundreds and hundreds of Pestisafes® would have to become "registered" and/or have poisons added to them! Virtually everything on earth can be used to control pests, but that does not make them "pesticide poisons"! Obviously, many manufacturers do not want their safe food or cleaning products to be called or "registered" as poisons. I have field tested hundreds of them and have found my Pestisafes® will safely control even pesticide poison resistant pests.

What is true IPM? True IPM is a pest management strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems with minimum impact on human health, the environment and/or beneficial organisms. True IPM is dedicated to removing the causes rather than spraying poisons to temporarily (at best) control pest infestations after problems occur. The objective is to render buildings uninhabitable to pests in as safe a manner to people as possible...often without destroying the pest. I call true IPM, Intelligent Pest Management® because the term IPM used by the poison industry has now come to mean "business (poison sprays) as usual."

The League of Women Voters has written about "Breaking the Cycle of Violence" and has noted that Professor Warren Porter of the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin has found that tiny doses of combinations of pesticide poisons, at levels that can be found in drinking water today, can cause aggressive and learning problems in animals. He states, "Can you imagine any parents exposing their children to a toxic chemical (poison)?" And yet they do it all the time (by pesticiding [poisoning] their homes and gardens, eating pesticided (poisoned) food, and permitting pesticiding (poisoning) in their children's schools and on their playgrounds). The telling comparison is that we protect laboratory rats better from this stuff then we do our kids. Professor Porter said, "We will not be able to maintain a highly-ordered technological society if we raise a generation of children who are learning disabled and hyperagressive."

PTA Pesticide (Poison) Position Statement - Increasing reports of pesticide poisoning incidents in schools have led the National PTA, based in Chicago, Illinois, to adopt a position statement advocating the elimination of environmental health hazards caused by pesticides (poisons) used in schools and child care facilities. The position statement, entitled, "The Use of Pesticides in Schools and Child Care Centers", was adopted in 1992 by the National PTA Board of Directors. The entire statement reads as follows: Americans use hundreds of millions of pounds of pesticides (pest killer poisons), herbicides (plant killer poisons) and fungicides (fungus killer poisons) each year for non-agricultural purposes, including in and around schools and child care centers. Pesticides are, by nature, poisons and exposure - even at low levels - may cause serious adverse health effects. Our nation's children, because of a variety age-related factors, are at increased risk of cancer, neurobehavioral impairment, and other health problems as a result of their exposure to pesticides. The National PTA is particularly concerned about the use of pesticides (poisons) in and around schools and child care centers because children are there for much of their young lives.

The National PTA, long an advocate for a healthy environment, supports the removal of pesticide (poison) efforts:

• At the federal, state and local levels, to eliminate the environmental health hazards caused by pesticide (poison) use in and around schools and child care centers. These efforts will result in cost-savings when use of chemical (poison) controls is reduced; decreased health risks, and safer school and child care center environments.
• To encourage the integrated pest management approach to managing pests and the environment in schools and child care centers. Expansion of integrated pest management policies in schools and child care centers is an excellent long-term solution for control of pests that will significantly lower children's exposure to harmful chemicals (poisons) by using the least-toxic mix of pest control strategies.
• To retain authority for governmental bodies, at the state and local levels, to regulate the use of pesticides (poisons) in and around school and child care center buildings. This authority is critical to retaining maximum state and local control over an issue so basic to children's health and well-being.

American Cancer Society Pesticide (Poison) Warning - The American Cancer Society, Erie County Unit, recently published a brochure entitled, "WARNING: The use of pesticides may be hazardous to your health!" which states that:

• "It is a violation of federal law to state that the use of pesticides (poisons) is safe when used as directed."
• "No one can assure your safety when using pesticides (poisons). Most pesticides (poisons) are associated with some risk to human health or the environment."
• 'EPA registration is not a consumer product safety program. It is not intended to determine the safety of the pesticide (poison), but rather to indicate it will kill a targeted pest."
• "A National Cancer Institute study indicated that children are as much as six times more likely to get childhood leukemia when pesticides (poisons) are used in the home and garden."
• "According to a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology, more children with brain tumors and other cancers were found to have had exposure to insecticides (poisons) than children without cancer."
• "95% of the pesticides (poisons) used on residential lawns are considered probable or possible carcinogens by the EPA."
• "Organophosphates, like diazinon and Dursban, and carbamates are designed to act as nerve poisons and may cause headaches, dizziness, fatigue, twitching muscles and mental confusion. Diazinon is banned for use on golf courses and sod farms, but is widely used on lawns and gardens."
• "Pesticides (poisons) can be absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled. During application, pesticides (poisons) drift and settle on porches, laundry, toys, pools and furniture. People and pets may track pesticide (poison) residue into the house.

The American Cancer Society public information brochure further recommends that people implement organic and natural pest control methods, and eliminate the use of toxic insecticides (poisons) and herbicides (poisons). Learn to Recognize the Symptoms of Pesticide (Poison) Exposure

Are children at greater risk from pesticide poisoning than adults?

• Children absorb greater concentrations of pesticides (poisons) per pound of body weight through inhalation, ingestion and contact with the skin.
• Children are more likely to play on treated floors and grounds. Unwashed hands often find their way to the mouth or to unwrapped snacks.
• Because many pesticides (poisons) are heavier than air, children's breathing areas are likely to have higher pesticide (poison) concentrations.
• Children may not read, understand or pay attention to warning signs.
• A child's biology is different. Their immune system is less developed and may be less protective.
• Children are extremely vulnerable to classes of synthetic pesticides (poisons) that mimic naturally occurring hormones or enzymes.
• Developing cells are more easily damaged than cells that have completed development. During the rapid growth period of childhood, cells divide very quickly, making it more likely that a cellular mutation will be reproduced, thus initiating cancer.
• Because they are younger, children have a longer life span ahead of them for chemically induced health problems to progress.
• Small doses of neurotoxins can drastically impair the learning process in children.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen L. Tvedten

P. S. My Father used to say illegal was a sick bird; his joke is beginning to make an awful lot of sense to me.

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