Terminex International Co. treated the home of the Trimper family in Rotterdam for termites with an insecticide, probably Dursban TC.  Dursban TC is a commonly used termiticide containing chlorpyrifos. The Trimpers had asked for another chlorpyrifos insecticide, Equity, but Terminex applied Dursban instead.

Following the second treatment, three-year-old Kyle Trimper became ill with unexplained high fevers and respiratory problems.  His parents were also ill, and his mother suffered two miscarriages during the following year.  (Lyndon, every time I sprayed Dursban - I watched the gravid roaches abort!)

Subject:   Who is Keeping Secrets?---------
Date:        Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:43:22 -0400
From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
 

Dear Lyndon,

The Journal of Pesticide Reform/ Fall 1999 - Vol. 19, No. 3 had an article by Caroline Cox entitled:  "Inert Ingredients in Pesticides: Who's Keeping Secrets?" that reported on one incident I thought you might find interesting, seeing as your Department is demanding that the California Nurserymen flood all of their plant soils with this same terrible "registered" insecticide (poison).  It is obvious that you are also simply choosing to ignore all of the dangers to health caused by all of the unregistered/untested/unknown "inerts".

"Finally, inerts put people's health at risk.  A recent incident in New York powerfully illustrates how complex (unregistered and untested) inerts' health impacts can be.  In April of 1996, and again in August, Terminex International Co. treated the home of the Trimper family in Rotterdam for termites with an insecticide, probably Dursban TC.  Dursban TC is a commonly used termiticide containing chlorpyrifos. The Trimpers had asked for another chlorpyrifos insecticide, Equity, but Terminex applied Dursban instead.

Following the second treatment, three-year-old Kyle Trimper became ill with unexplained high fevers and respiratory problems.  His parents were also ill, and his mother suffered two miscarriages during the following year.  (Lyndon, every time I sprayed Dursban - I watched the gravid roaches abort!)

In early 1997, the family complained to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation about the lingering odors in their home, and the health problems Kyle was having.  The agency came to their house, along with the Department of Health, and collected air samples several times.  Because Terminex asserted the insecticide applied in the Trimper home was Equity, even though the applicator who had done the treatment admitted otherwise, the agencies looked at inert ingredients in the air of the Trimper's home.  (This analysis for inerts as a part of an enforcement investigation is extremely rare.) Equity's inert ingredients are identified by Dow AgroSciences, its manufacturer, as "proprietary emulsifiers, proprietary solvents and propylene glycol."  Dursban TC's inerts, according to Dow, are also proprietary, but include "xylene range aromatic solvent."

The air samples were in a word, frightening.  The agencies (still) found a mixture of solvents, including benzene, toulene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and trimethyl benzenes.  The Department of Health analyzed the components of a sample of Dursban TC, and then compared it with what they found in the Trimper's house. The result "was a very close match."  (Lyndon, Can you imagine how bad it had to be right after the "treatment"?)

The benzene in the Trimper's house was particularly frightening.  Benzene is "carcinogenic to humans," according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer because people who are exposed to it are at increased risk for leukemia. In laboratory studies it has caused tumors in multiple organs and also causes genetic damage.  EPA classified benzene as "of toxicological concern" in 1987 and asked pesticide manufacturers to stop using it.  By 1991 EPA had removed benzene from its list of pesticide inert ingredients because the agency believed that it was no longer being used.  So why was it in the Trimper house?  Because Dursban TC contains "a mix of petroleum distillates" according to EPA's Kerry Liefer.  (Interesting name).  And that mix contained (unregistered/unapproved) benzene.

The other Dursban inerts found in the Trimper's house are also hazardous. Toulene causes confusion, memory loss, nausea, and can harm unborn babies when their mothers are exposed.  Trimethylbenzenes damage the nervous system and are irritating to the eyes.  Xylenes cause headaches, nausea, confusion, kidney damage, and fetal death.

The Trimper case is unlikely to be just an isolated incident since Dursban TC is one of the most widely used liquid termiticides in the U.S.  However, when termite (and/or fire ant) treatments cause problems, attention almost always focuses (only) on the active ingredient.  It is rare there's any consideration of inerts.  As a result, it is impossible to know how often incidents like the Trimper's occur."

Lyndon, it is an interesting article ---- one that clearly points out you truly have no "registered" pesticide formulations and there is honestly no way for you to determine any real Risk/Benefit using your "registered" poisons.  The amazing thing to me is that New Zealand has safely controlled termites with non-volatile borax and there have been no termite infestations in the treated wood since 1953.  Which of your "registered" poisons has such an excellent/health control record?  Lyndon, when will it be "legal; (in your opinion) to use safe alternatives to actually control pest problems in California?

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten.

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