What are Pesticides?
Pesticides are poisons designed to kill a variety of plants and animals such as insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and mold or fungus (fungicides). Pesticides include active ingredients (chemical compounds designed to kill the target organisms) and inert ingredients which may be carcinogens or toxic substances. They also include rodenticides and wood preservatives.
How do Pesticides reach us?
Pesticides can be absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled (most toxic). During application pesticides drift and settle on ponds, laundry, toys, pools and furniture. People and pets track pesticide residue into the house {3}. Only 5% of pesticides reach target weeds. The rest runs off into water or dissipates in the air. Drift from landscaping ranges from 12 feet to 14.5 miles {1}. More serious effects appear to be produced by direct inhalation of pesticide sprays than by absorption or ingestion of toxins. {2}
Are registered Pesticides safe?
NO. Many of the "safety tests" used to test these products are fundamentally inadequate: they test for the acute (not chronic) effects of single (not multiple) chemicals on healthy (not sick, chemically sensitive or immuno-suppressed etc.) adult (not feta l or young) animal (not human) subjects exposed over short (not long) periods of time {10}. Some of the companies testing pesticides have been charged and convicted of falsifying residue and environmental studies that were used to support pesticide registration in the US and Canada {10}. Some pesticides become even more toxic as they break down. (In the US it is a violation of federal law to state that the use of pesticides is safe.)
Pesticides initiate and propagate multiple chemical sensitivities. About 16 million US citizens are sensitive to pesticides (i.e. they have compromised immune functioning as a result of pesticide exposure). {10}
Besides sensitivity and toxicity what other health risks are there?
- increased risk of leukemia
- cancers (lung, brain, testicular, lymphoma)
- increase in spontaneous abortions
- greater genetic damage
- decreased fertility
- liver and pancreatic damage
- neuropathy
- disturbances to immune systems (asthma/ allergies)
- increases in stillbirths {1}
- decreased sperm counts
What are the main risks to children?
- cancer: leukemia and brain cancer
- asthma and allergies
- polyneuritis with numbness and pain in lower limbs. {5}
- altered neurological functioning and long-lasting neuro-behavioral impairments. {10}
- birth defects
- neurotoxicity
- gangrene (tissue death) of the extremities Children whose homes and gardens are treated with pesticides have 6.5 times greater risk of leukemia than children living in untreated environments. {1,2}
Who is the most susceptible?
- Children, infants and fetuses - relative to adults, children have more rapid breathing and metabolic rates, greater surface to body mass ratios, thinner skins, spend more time in contact with the ground, more frequently place their fingers in their mouths, and are less likely to be able to read hazard signs.
- Adults - especially those with asthma, lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, dermatitis and chemical sensitivities {1}.
- Animals - pets, wildlife of all kinds and their habitat.
- Dick Irwin, toxicologist at Texas A&M Universities
*Join RATE and support the by-law to restrict pesticide spraying
PHONE: 479-1440; WRITE: P.O. Box 25188, Halifax, N.S. B3M 4H4
