KUZHEMBELA

DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH PESTICIDE USE
PESTICIDE EXPOSURE
PESTICIDE REGISTRATION

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 Registration of a pesticide does NOT imply that the pesticide is safe. In fact, nearly 100,000 accidental pesticide exposures are reported to poison control centers each year. Many of these exposures involve children, providing clear evidence that current efforts to protect children by manufacturers and others are inadequate.

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 There has been a 25 percent increase in kid’s cancer in past 25 years.

 Each day in Ghana, more than a hundred children age 5 and under who eat a normal diet ingest doses of organic phosphate pesticides that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s adult reference doses, according to a recent analysis of USDA and FDA data.

 Two thousand Ghanaian children age 5 and under eat an average of two pesticides a day.

 Pesticides are intentionally toxic substances. Some chemicals commonly used on lawns and gardens have been associated with birth defects, mutations, adverse reproductive effects, and cancer in laboratory animals.

 Children, infants, and fetuses may be especially vulnerable to the health effects of pesticides before the age of five, when their cells are normally reproducing most rapidly.

 Children may be more susceptible to loss of brain function if exposed to neurotoxins, and may be more susceptible to damage to their reproductive systems.

 Lawn-care pesticides are not tested for their chronic health effects, unless they are also licensed for food uses. The third most heavily used herbicide in Ghana, is MCPP also known as “condem or Barzaa”, has not been fully tested for chronic health effects since it is not allowed for use on foods. MCPP is commonly found in weed and feed products.

 EPA has tested only three of fifty registered pesticides for their effects on the developing nervous system; two of the three tested were more harmful to young animals than adults.

 Many Canadian municipalities have banned or severely restricted the use of lawn-care pesticides. The Province of Quebec recently set “the highest standards in North America to decrease exposure to pesticides” when it prohibited some commonly used lawn care pesticides (including 2,4-D and MCPP) from use on public lawns. These pesticides will be prohibited from use on private and commercial lawns in 2006.

 Pesticides are composed of active ingredients and inert ingredients. Some inert ingredients may be more toxic than active ingredients and can comprise 90 to 95 percent of the product. Some inert ingredients are suspected carcinogens, while others have been linked to central nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and some short-term health effects.

 Increased odds of childhood leukemia, brain cancer and soft tissue sarcoma have been associated with children living in households where pesticides are used.10 Other childhood malignancies associated with pesticide exposures include neuroblastoma, Wilms’ tumor, Ewing’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancers of the brain, colorectum, and testes. 

 By-products of the insecticide chlorpyrifos were found in 93 percent of urine samples taken from children ages three to 13. In a separate study, 99 percent of 110 Seattle area children ages two to five had detectable levels of organophosphate residues in their urine

 The average apple has four pesticides on it after it has been washed and cored; some apples have as many as 10.

 There are now more than 700 types of pesticides on the market in Ghana.

 All pesticides have one thing in common in common - they are poisons designed to "KILL" things and they have the potential to kill humans if ingested in sufficient amounts.

 Many chemicals, that are initially marketed as "TOTALLY SAFE" for humans, are later found to be "HARMFUL.".

 Since 1996 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has targeted a large group of older, riskier pesticides called organophosphates for review because they pose a potential risk to children.

 The U.S. Geological Survey found that 96 percent of all fish analyzed in major rivers and streams contained residues of one or more pesticides at detectable levels.

 Pesticides have been identified as a potential cause of amphibian declines and deformities and have been implicated as one of the reasons that wild and managed pollinators are disappearing at alarming rates.

 In the 1950s, DDT was hailed as a safe insect control. More than 30 years later it was found to be almost completely non-biodegradable. It remained in the soil and built up in the food chain and could be deposited in the fatty tissue of humans. DDT was eventually banned, but its off-spring lindane, dieldrin, chlordane and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, remained in use.

 EDB (Ethylene dibro-mide) was marketed in the 1950's as an insecticide and a post-harvest fumigant for fruits, vegetables and grains. In 1984, it was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to its carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and reproductive toxicity.

 In August of 1999, the EPA announced action against methyl parathion and azinphos methyl to protect children from pesticide residues in food.

 In 1999 the EPA reached an agreement whereby the manufacture of chlorpyrifos, or Dursban would be halted by December 2000.

 On December 5, 2000 the EPA announced the elimination of all indoor uses of the widely used pesticide DIAZINON. Diazinon is used by homeowners on lawns and gardens. More than 500 pounds of the pesticide is applied on us annually in Ghana alone.

 Studies of major rivers and streams have documented that 100 percent of all surface water samples contained one or more pesticides at detectable levels.

 Homeowners may unknowingly contaminate their own well water by using pesticides on their lawns. Factors that influence a pesticide’s potential to contaminate water include physiochemical factors, environmental factors, application methods and other practices associated with the pesticide use.

 Only two of the top five lawn-care pesticides, 2,4-D and glyphosate, are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, despite governmental acknowledgement of the intensity of effects of their release on the environment, and their potential to leach into groundwater supplies.

 An EPA study of 1200 "inert" ingredients in pesticides, many which remain un-tested, found 122 that could cause cancer, birth defects, neurological disorders or health problems.

 Toxicology and Industrial Health published a study showing that the natural mix of chemical pesticides and fertilizers – in concentrations mirroring levels found in groundwater – can significantly affect immune and endocrine systems as well as neurological health.

 The Canadian Institute for Child Health has found that children are increasingly at risk of serious diseases from pesticides. The study also found that "pesticides have NOT been evaluated for their potential to affect brain development." The study said cancer rates in children grew 25 percent since 1975.

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 Mounting evidence indicates that when costs of cleanup of polluted water, replacement of eroded soils and health care costs are factored in, the price of organic foods are probably the same, or less, than foods grown with man-made chemicals.

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QUESTION:
How can products, that are designed to "KILL", be placed on the market without first undergoing proper tests to determine any potential health risks to the consumer?

TAKE ACTION: Vote with your money and purchase bio based, organic, fair trade items that support better farming practices and sustainable livelihoods.