Some Fear Pesticide More than West Nile
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Some Fear Pesticide More than West Nile
Date:
Mon, 2 Sep 2002 09:55:26 -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 dated: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 from the Southeast Missourian entitled: Some Fear Pesticide More than West Nile By Cheryl Wittenauer of The Associated Press.
ST. LOUIS -- Some St. Louis-area residents, fearing that exposure to chemicals is more harmful than the West Nile virus, want a moratorium on mosquito spraying until more is known about its health and environmental effects.
Green Party candidates and other spraying opponents planned a news conference today to call for a halt to spraying in St. Louis city, St. Louis and St. Charles counties. Mosquito eradication efforts have been stepped up this summer in many areas of Missouri over growing concerns about the West Nile virus.
So far this summer, more than a dozen Missourians have come down with the virus and one has died.
Opponents of spraying question its effectiveness in getting rid of mosquitoes. They also question whether the spray is a bigger health hazard than West Nile.
Daniel McKeel, associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, said high, prolonged doses of pesticides such as Permethrin, which is sprayed in the St. Louis area, can cause liver and nerve damage in humans. Children are particularly susceptible, he said.
"There's a hysterical attitude that we spray it up," McKeel said. "But we may not be accomplishing what we purport to do."
McKeel is especially concerned about the large number of asthma sufferers, whose condition can be triggered by allergies to the compound.
St. Louis city and county officials say fewer infected mosquitoes are being trapped now compared to earlier this summer, proof that mosquito-fighting efforts are working.
Larry Kettelhut, chief of St. Louis' program, said the city uses Permethrin and Sumithrin and a bacteria. He said all are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and are applied modestly.
Joan Bradford, who heads the St. Louis County program, said the county uses Permethrin.
"If everybody dumped their buckets, and took proper care of their swimming pools and didn't let water accumulate in tires, we wouldn't have to spray," Bradford said.
© 2002, Southeast Missourian. This story is available at: http://semissourian.com/story.html?rec=86501
Well Mr. Helliker, some people actually use this same "registered" POISON as a shampoo to "control" lice on their children. Albert Einstein is reported to have said: "the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." I have posted a free (updated) chapter on how to safely control lice on my web site located at: http://www.thebestcontrol.com .
Respectfully, Stephen L. TvedtenIf you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, please email us at list@safe2use.com.