Pesticide "Use" And ADD/ADHD Problems
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Subject: Pesticide "Use" And ADD/ADHD Problems..........................
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 00:39:24 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to see an e-mail I just received on ADD/ADHD problems:
Good evening Steve:
Thanks for your recent posting of the statement from Linda McElver. I contacted her and found out, not to my surprise, that exposure in the school to Dursban seemed to relate to ADD/ADHD problems her son had. They went away when he changed to a school not treated with insecticides.
It
seems to me that school use of pesticides and a possible relationship to
ADD/ADHD are an Achilles heel of the pesticide business.
I think I know the reason for the problem (the pesticides mimic thyroid
hormones and screw up the action of these hormones) and you know how to raise
hell. I'd be glad to work on this
with you.
Bill Plapp
A letter to McElver should be pasted below
....................................
Hi Linda McElver:
Thanks much for the quick response to my questions concerning pesticide exposure and ADD. I am not surprised to learn that Dursban exposure in the school is a likely culprit. Dursban has a very bad health record and as you know, its use is being phased out. Nary a work in all this, about effects related to thyroid hormones and effects on nerve system needs regulated by thyroid hormones. Too bad, The idea needs to get out.
One of your notes said you are now in California. I am quite sure that some school systems, particularly in the Bay Area are likely to be pesticide free. Berkeley comes to mind first. It would be interesting to find out the rates of ADD/ADHD problems in such schools.
Also, the California Dept. of Public Health which is in Berkeley ought to have info on rates of ADD in different situations. Please consider contacting them.
I did a little looking on pubmed and found no entries relating ADD/ADHD to pesticide exposure. That surprised me. As far as I can tell, the possible relationship is quite obvious.
Please
let me know how your efforts work out. And
please remember, I will be glad to supply you with statements concerning why
pesticide exposure is likely to be involved in this.
Best wishes, Bill Plapp
Well Mr. Helliker, Bill Plapp is a retired toxicologist who does not want to ignore what he has learned about your "registered" POISONS. Bill wants to speak out in order to prevent the innocent from being harmed. Haile Selasssie once said: "Throuhout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." When will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective (unregistered) alternatives to actually control pest problems? Will you help us protect the children from needless exposure to your "registered" POISONS or not? Will you remain silent?
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten(Note: Linda McElver has founded a nonprofit organization Canaries Foundation. You can find out how to help at the web site.)
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