"Dursban" - Dangerous pesticide still in wide use
Lawn and pest control companies across Canada continue to spray a pesticide that has been shown to cause brain damage in mice and will be banned from use next year.
"What we're seeing here is Health Canada favouring the health of the bottom line, the profits of the pesticide industry, over the health of our children," says Angela Rickman of the Sierra Club.
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Subject: Dangerous pesticide still in wide use................................
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2001 10:27:22 -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 read an article entitled: Dangerous pesticide still in wide use - CBC WebPosted Wed Jun 27 14:42:54 2001.
WINNIPEG - Lawn and pest control companies across Canada continue to spray a pesticide that has been shown to cause brain damage in mice and will be banned from use next year.
It will be the end of 2002 before consumers and companies are required to stop using it. Farmers and municipalities are exempt.
Chlorpyrifos pesticides were introduced in 1969 and are the most commonly used killers of lawn pests such as ants and grubs in Canada. It is also widely used in agriculture to protect fruits and vegetables against insects.
It exists in more than 100 products and is sold primarily under the names "dursban" or "lorsban." Walk into any hardware store and you'll see it on the shelves.
"We know that it's cumulative in children," says David Cadman of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation.
"We know that it's a neurotoxin and that many children who have been exposed to these pesticides manifest symptoms that are similar to attention deficit disorder."
American studies have found that it can cause brain damage, prompting Federal Health Minister Allan Rock to announce he would impose a ban, but it wasn't immediate.
A year after that pronouncement, chloropyrifos is still for sale in Canada. Health Canada has decided to follow the example of its counterpart in the U.S. It's giving pesticide companies until the end of this year to stop selling the product.
Source url: http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/27/Consumers/pesticidespraying_010627
It will be the end of 2002 before consumers and companies are required to stop using it altogether. Farmers and municipalities are exempt.
"What we're seeing here is Health Canada favouring the health of the bottom line, the profits of the pesticide industry, over the health of our children," says Angela Rickman of the Sierra Club.
Some Liberal politicians disagree with their own cabinet colleagues, openly calling for an immediate ban.
Karen Kraft-Sloan is a Liberal MP from Newmarket. She is vice-chair of the House of Commons Committee on the environment. Kraft-Sloan believes there should have been an immediate ban.
The debate over pesticides is about to get hotter. The Supreme Court of Canada is due to rule on Thursday on a case concerning the right of municipalities to control pesticide use.
Two companies are challenging a bylaw enacted by the town of Hudson, Quebec. Dozens of other towns have followed Hudson's lead and Halifax adopted a ban of its own in April.
Well Mr. Helliker, I am glad that the two companies lost their challenge and the people have prevailed rather than the profits of the POISON applicators. I am also somewhat pleased that this particular organophosphate will eventually be "banned" for some uses. However I remember when chlordane (and heptachlor) were "banned" for above the ground use in the seventies - and the sad fact that this cancer causing chemical called chlordane (and heptachlor) are STILL being used above the ground. Every time chlordane was applied according to the label, heptachlor was found in the contamination that always occurred. Dr. George Harvey, Woods Hole Oceanopgraphic Institution, in 1974 said: "...Humans are exposed to heptachlor epoxide from the moment of conception on throughout life." The real problem is the fact there are MANY DANGEROUS "REGISTERED" PESTICIDE POISONS (BANNED OR OTHERWISE) STILL IN USE AND MISUSE! Many of your "registered" POISONS cause many health problems and it is only when there are sufficient victims in the ground and/or ill that you decide to eventually "ban" a few uses. This attitude of ignoring the health of the people and the environment continues to amaze me. I would like to point out that if we stopped using any of your "registered" POISONS today, we would STILL be exposed to many of them even to our graves! "Sound Science" is a marvelous tool used by the POISON applicators to sell their useless toxins. "Regulators" are used to stop the use of safe and far more effective (unregistered) alternatives. The public is becoming more and more aware of these facts!
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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