Concerns About Herbicide Use

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Subject:  Concerns About Herbicide Use
Date:     Wed, 29 May 2002 10:41:48 -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

August 8,2001

Your concerns about local government herbicide use and health consequences to residents are certainly justified. Based on worldwide evidence we believe it’s only a question of time before the practice is banned as it already is in many areas of the United States & Canada. The realistic decision Councils in Australia is more one of leading the way or is forced to comply in the near future. Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide is already banned from being used in most US schools because it was found to change oestrus cycle in girls. More information can be obtained from Prof. Gunnar Heuser E-mail gheuser@ucla.edu

Glyphosate & the Inerts used in spray formulations certainly do trigger severe reactions in adults with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Herbicide use in residential areas also triggers Asthma attacks in adults & children. Our health professional members in Queensland advise admissions to hospitals increase following the application of herbicides.

As the National Registration Authority has never maintained an Adverse Reactions Register it’s is not commonly known that children with Attention Deficit Disorder & Autism exhibit periods of severe behavioural disorders, even violent behaviour following the use of herbicides & pesticides near residential areas. In late 1999 emergency permits were granted for increased glyphosate use on corn, wheat & barley crops in Queensland & New South Wales due to weed growth following high rainfall. The emergency permit allowed an increase in the MRL for glyphosate from 0.2 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg in finished grain. As food products made from these cereals came onto the market an abnormal number of children developed very severe behavioural problems in Queensland resulting in an excessively high number of children were placed in the care of Families Youth & Community Care during 2000.

There is a considerable amount of information available on glyphosate (thousands of pages) which would indicate considerable caution be used in the continued use of herbicides in or around residential areas. The numbered extract examples as supplied to us (below) represent only a very small sample. We can be provide the full documents on request for your consideration.

(1)     Ingestion of RoundUp has been shown to cause "irritation of the oral mucous membrane and gastrointestinal tract…pulmonary dysfunction, oliguria, metabolic acidosis, hypotension, leukocytosis and fever."

(2)     Monsanto states that glyphosate is not a cholinesterase inhibitor. The MSDS on RoundUp also says that glyphosate is not a cholinesterase inhibitor. Yet, glyphosate is a an organophosphorus, and the "toxic effects of organophosphorus (OP) compounds are predicated on their irreversible inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and other serine hydrolases."

(3)     A recent study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden [1], has revealed clear links between one of the world's biggest selling herbicide, glyphosate, to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer [2]. In the study published in the 15 March 1999 Journal of American Cancer Society, the researchers also maintain that exposure to glyphosate 'yielded increased risks for NHL.' They stress that with the rapidly increasing use of glyphosate since the time the study was carried out, 'glyphosate deserves further epidemiologic studies.'

(4)      The NY Attorney General's office sued Monsanto for advertising that RoundUp herbicide is "safe" and "environmentally friendly." While Monsanto admitted no error, they settled with NY, paying them a couple hundred thousand dollars, and agreeing to refrain from advertising RoundUp herbicide in New York as "safe" and "environmentally friendly." The NY Attorney General began challenging these ads in 1991, and the case finally settled in 1997. (Further information available at http://www.igc.org/panna/resources/_pestis/PESTIS.1997.2.html) When Monsanto subsequently violated this agreement, they were again called to task by the NY Attorney General for breach of the settlement agreement. They again backed off their advertising campaign for RoundUp in New York only.

According to newspaper reports, the WA Farmers Federation fear the cost of glyphosate could more than double if Monsanto succeeds in imposing a Dumping Duty on cheap Chinese imports of the chemical taking the present price of $100 per 20 Lt drum to $220. This could make more environmentally friendly weed control options a more viable proposition.

There is absolutely no doubt community health will greatly benefit if councils find more environmentally friendly ways of weed control. The NRA approval given for various chemicals does not indemnify councils or professional pesticide businesses from liability when they cause injuries, especially when residents who suffer adverse reactions give prior notice. We believe it’s an unnecessary and wasteful exercise to end up in expensive litigation all for the need of a little common sense.

You are most welcome to contact me if I can be of further assistance, and you may advise council representatives they can contact me during business hours on (07) 4978 6022.

Warm Regards,

Rex Warren
National President

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