Trace pesticide combinations have been shown to induce abnormal thyroid hormone levels, which are associated with irritability, aggression and
multiple chemical sensitivity, says the article.

Subject: Pesticides are not Pestisafes---------
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 16:41:58 -0400
From: StephenTvedten <steve@getipm.com>
 Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>

Lyndon - I thought you might like to read some more research coming out of California which directly shows your "registered" pesticide poisons are not safe and are creating major health problems.   This weekend a Lady from Calfornia called me and told me your "registered" poisons have recently killed her child.  How many more people must die and/or become sick before you "legally" allow the use of safe alternatives to your dangerous, "registered" pesticide poisons?

Media Links Violence in Schools to Pesticides

A research  scientists, in an article in the internet version of the Chicago Tribune on June 15, 1999, attributes the increasingly common violent acts at schools around the country with the toxic load that many children must endure in their environment.  The article, by Robert Hatherill, Ph.D., a faculty member of the Environmental Studies Department a the University of California, Santa Barbara, suggests that heavy metals and pesticides in the bloodstream may be "sending teens over the edge."  He says, " A rapidly expanding body of research shows that heavy metals such as lead and pesticides decrease mental ability and increase aggressiveness.  Human behavior is so influenced by toxic chemicals that in the 1980s a new scientific discipline called behavioral toxicology came into existence.  The article asserts that pesticide use has been on the rise for decades, and even toxic sludge laden with heavy metals such as mercury has been used on cropland.  Trace pesticide combinations have been shown to induce abnormal thyroid hormone levels, which are associated with irritability, aggression and multiple chemical sensitivity, says the article.  Blood tests of violent criminals show more heavy metals in their blood than their non-violent criminal counterparts.  According to Dr. Hatherill, a February 1996 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), entitled "Bone Lead Levels and Delinquent Behavior," links heavy metals to attention deficit disorder, aggression and  delinquency.  The author insists that it is time to look beyond only the sociological roots of the violence problem and consider what we are eating: processed foods grown with toxic chemicals.
Contact Dr. Robert Hatherill,
Environmental Studies Program, UC Santa Barbara,
2320 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
805-893-8988,
hatheril@envst.ucsb.edu.

Pesticides Found in Amniotic Fluid

The preliminary results of an ongoing study of pregnant women shows that one-third of 53 women in the Los Angeles area carry traces of pesticides in their amniotic fluid.  The women whose amniotic fluid was tested are all 35 years old or older and in good health.  Main residues found include DDE, a breakdown product of banned pesticide DDT, and also PCBs.  The presence of DDE raises concern because it is an endocrine disrupter--it can act as testosterone and block testosterone receptors in cells.  Fluid samples were taken at 12-16 weeks, which is soon after the fetus' vital organs are beginning to develop.  However, scientists are not yet willing to say at this stage what affects the chemicals are having on fetuses.  According to the Los Angeles Times, a toxicologist at Texas A &  M University says that the finding of such low quantities of DDE is actually encouraging because blood and fat tests over the past two decades used to show the presence at much higher levels of the chemical.  However, Beyond Pesticides/ NCAMP points out that there is an extra natural barrier against toxins through the umbilical cord just as there is to the brain, so comparisons to the blood and fat do not signify reduced exposure.  the study is being conducted jointly by Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.  Preliminary results of the study were presented at an Endocrine Society Conference in San Diego on June 14, 1999.  The question is where the DDE is coming from--is it past use of DDT in the U. S. or current use of DDT abroad that is carried by wind and water?  Contact Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP.

What do you think, Lyndon?  Should you continue your present policy of only "legally" allowing "registered" poisons to "control" pests?  Or will you now allow the "legal" use of far safer and more effective and less expensive alternatives?  The choice is and always has been yours.  Choose this day who you will serve - the people of California or the profits of the poison "industry."  Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
 

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