Steve Tvedten of Get Set, Inc.'s email to Lyndon Hawkins of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation citing additional study of Weed killer in rain.

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:

Lyndon I thought you might be interested in a California (Canadian) study found at http://www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-02-26-0008.html)   Friday, February 26, 1999

 Weed killer in rain -  Lethbridge results alarm experts.

          By CAROL HARRINGTON, CANADIAN PRESS
 Rain laced with a common weed killer is drenching gardens and farms in southern Alberta - a discovery that has alarmed scientists.   Agriculture Canada says a study in the Lethbridge area last year has revealed extremely high, unacceptable amounts of herbicide 2,4-D in the rainfall.   "I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don't bob for apples in grandma's rain barrel," said Bernie Hill, a pesticide residue chemist at the Lethbridge Research Centre who led the study funded by Agriculture Canada.  "It implies this stuff is floating in the air in minute amounts and you are breathing it."

The herbicide was found in all 150 samples of rain collected during May 30 to Aug. 17 last year at eight Lethbridge-area locations, including the backyards of three residences, a rural golf course and a farm.   The highest amount of 2,4-D was found at the golf course, where the herbicide registered 5.1 parts per billion. The lowest amount was from rain collected in a residential backyard, with a reading of 1.6 ppb.  The Canadian aquatic life guideline for 2,4-D is 4 ppb and the drinking guideline is 100 ppb. Farmers in the Lethbridge region are the biggest users of 2,4-D in Alberta, with more than 20,000 kg of the herbicide sold to the area's grain farmers each year. The herbicide, which is produced by several chemical companies, is also used by people to rid their lawns of  dandelions.  When asked whether the study's biggest amount of herbicide in rain is detrimental to human health, Hill answered: "That's the million-dollar question."  Alberta Agriculture Minister Ed Stelmach was stunned to learn of the study's results. "I don't know how they'd get into the atmosphere. I didn't think those chemicals would evaporate."

Lethbridge East MLA Ken Nicol, an agricultural economist, said the report supports a river water quality study last year that also revealed contamination. "It is serious, it really is," he said.  But AGCare, a group that represents more than 45,000 Ontario farmers who use pesticides, insist 2,4-D is a safe chemical.   "It's been out there for quite some time," said AGCare chairman Jim Fischer. "It's been accepted as a moderate chemical."  But Rocky Notnes of the international Pesticide Action Group said studies show 2,4-D to cause cancer in small animals who lick the herbicide from their paws.

Scientists suspect the high level of 2,4-D is specific to the Lethbridge region due to the area's persistent hot, windy and dusty weather.  The 2,4-D levels in the study were 10 to 50 times higher than herbicide levels reported at other Canadian locations, such as Manitoba and Ontario, Hill said.

Lyndon , how does California weather compare to Alberta, Canada?  Do you think you are at least as hot, at least as windy and at least as dusty?

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