Steve Tvedten of Get Set, Inc.'s email to Lyndon Hawkins of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation .

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: Why are you allowing the Poisoning of California Children?
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 07:06:02 -0400
From: Rosalind Tvedten <stvedten@earthlink.net>
 Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
 

Lyndon, I thought you might like to read the following Press Release on what your "registered" poisons are doing to the Children of California.   PRESS RELEASE - For Release May 24, 1999.

   Contact: Liz Panos (212) 584-5024 or Catherine Hughes (212) 241-8557

HEALTH SCIENTISTS EXPLORE LINKS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS AND CHILDREN'S NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

-- Existing Research Suggests Pesticides, Metals, Other Toxins May Alter Neurological Development, Contribute to Behavior and Learning Disorders --

 -- Conference Expected to Set Agenda for National Research, Children's Protection Measures--

   More than 250 health researchers, pediatricians and public health professionals are gathering today and tomorrow at the New York Academy of Medicine to examine a growing body of evidence linking environmental toxins to children's neurodevelopment disorders.  Participants will develop research and policy recommendations that could help prevent childhood diseases of environmental origin.

   The two-day conference is organized by Mount Sinai School of Medicine's new Center for Children's Health and the Environment - a project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The conference, which brings together neurotoxicology specialists and experts in children's learning disorders, is the latest example of the growing interest among public health professionals in preventing and eradicating childhood diseases linked to pollutants.

 "We know that chemicals such as lead, PCBs, mercury and certain pesticides cause some fraction of developmental disorders," said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, noted pediatrician and director of the academic Center. "What we don't know is how many other toxic chemicals may affect children's brain and nervous system development, and at what levels."

   Fewer than 20 percent of the approximately 75,000 chemicals manufactured in the last 50 years have been assessed for their neurotoxic properties, he added. Yet developmental disabilities affect  a significant portion of American children, even as the causes of many of these disorders remain unknown. According to the CDC, about 17 percent of U.S. children are affected by one or more developmental disabilities. Autism, for example, affects 400,000 children. AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, which is strongly associated with criminal behavior and substance abuse in later years, affects 3-5  percent of school children. Severe disorders such as mental retardation or cerebral palsy affect 2 percent of school children.

  Conference participants will examine the KNOWN and potential links between toxins and neurological disorders such as autism, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Parkinson's disease. Tuesday's session will be devoted to developing a national research agenda and  recommendations for protecting children from pollutants that affect neurological development and behavior.

   Entitled "Environmental Influences on Children: Brain, Development, and Behavior," the conference has attracted some of the nation's leading researchers and health policy experts, including keynote speaker Thomas Burke, PhD, of the John Hopkins University School of Public Health and a principal investigator for The Pew Environmental Health Commission; Lynn Goldman, MD, of Johns Hopkins, a former assistant administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and current principal investigator for The Pew Environmental Health Commission; Bernard Weiss, PhD, of the University of Rochester, and a leading expert on neurodevelopmental diseases and toxic exposures; Coleen Boyle, PhD, MS, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and   Prevention; Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD, of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Joseph Jacobson, PhD, a leading researcher on the effect of toxics on fetal and infant development; John Wargo, PhD, of Yale University, an expert in pesticides and children; and Herbert Needleman, MD, one of the pioneer researchers on the effects of lead on children.

   Collectively, presenters at the conference are assembling the clues to a larger public health puzzle. Among the issues they will discuss:
 

• More research is needed on the effects of children's widespread exposure to neurotoxins: While exposure is common, research on health effects of these (pesticide poison) exposures is scarce. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimating that 100,000 children each year   accidentally ingest pesticides, for example, there is a compelling need to examine the effects of these exposures. The few animal and epidemiological studies that have been done suggest that (even) acute pesticide exposures can have long term effects on behavior and neurological function, but many gaps in knowledge still exist.

• Children's exposure is not always known or recognized: In a recent example, a February survey by Yale University's John Wargo, a speaker at the conference, found that 90 percent of Connecticut school districts regularly spray insecticides inside school buildings without notifying parents or children. Wargo and others believe this is but  one illustration of how children are routinely and unknowingly exposed to a mixture of chemicals that are toxic to the nervous system. Wargo will discuss recommendations to reduce exposures of potentially dangerous chemicals in places frequented by children such as schools and public play areas.

• Chemicals known to be toxic at high doses are seldom tested for neurological effects at low doses: Lead is known to be a poison at high doses and, after years of additional research, has been shown to be harmful at low doses. Chlorpyrifos, the most commonly used agricultural insecticide, has also been shown to damage the developing brain when administered to laboratory rats. But the lessons of this  research have not been applied to other commonly-used toxins such as pesticides, solvents and heavy metals. Herbert Needleman, MD, whose research on lead spurred its removal from gasoline in the 1970s, will discuss how the lessons of lead should be applied to examining other agents.

• Commonly-used neurotoxins need to be investigated for their health effects on humans: Even though the most popular classes of insecticides are designed specifically as neurotoxicants, surprisingly little is known about their potential as a source of developmental disabilities. Bernard Weiss, PhD, will discuss existing research about the vulnerability of the developing brain to chemicals in the environment. · Prenatal exposure may have an impact: A 1996 study by Joseph Jacobson of Wayne State University found that children exposed to PCBs in utero suffered from diminished short term memory and attentional deficit, but that there were no significant deficits from exposure through breast milk. These findings suggest that the fetal brain is particularly sensitive to PCB exposure. Dr. Jacobson will discuss his research and the implications for public health   protection.

   Recommendations for national research and policy will be discussed and debated, including:
 

• Mount a "Children's Framingham Study," a large national prospective study of the interplay between environmental and social factors on early childhood development. This study would be modeled on the Framingham Study that has tracked the health of 5,209 residents of a   Massachusetts town for more than 50 years to determine who develops heart disease and why. It has been one of the most productive population health studies in American medicine.

• Support additional epidemiological and toxicological research to identify environmental and other PREVENTABLE causes of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, and other developmental disabilities.

• Improve collaboration among the sometimes disparate disciplines of developmental pediatrics, environmental science and public health. Include the links between environmental toxins and disease in physicians' education.

• Make better use of the national Toxic Release Inventory for epidemiological research into the possible connection between toxic exposures and incidences of developmental disabilities.

   The conference is one of the first activities of the new Center for Children's Health and the Environment, whose formation was announced last month by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Conference sponsors are the Pew Charitable Trusts and the   National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/Superfund Basic Research Program. Co-sponsors include the New York Academy of Medicine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Lyndon, when will it be "legal"  (in your opinion) to wash your can in California? and in so doing kill the enclosed flies and maggots with soap and water?  and in so doing, to prevent the poisoning of the Children of California?

Respectfully,
Stephen L. Tvedten.