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Canadian researchers have demonstrated a link between a baby's exposure to the organochlorine pesticides DDT, hexachlorobenzene and dieldrin whilst in the womb and a raised risk of contracting otitis media (an infection of the middle ear) during the first years of life. This suggests that the pesticides may have compromised their immune system. There was no significant difference between babies who were breast-fed and babies who were formula-fed. (6987) Dewailly,E et al. Environmental Health Perspectives 2000;108:3,25-10 A survey of 97 farmers from Ontario, Canada, has shown that the semen of pesticide sprayers contains significant traces of the pesticide 2,4-D they were applying, even after only two days' exposure. Scientists are concerned that this could lead to birth abnormalities and that semen could be a major transmitter of damaging pollutants into both women and the unborn child. (6975) Arbuckle,TE et al. Reproductive
Toxicology 1999;13:421-29 A study comparing 496 people newly diagnosed with Parkinson's to 541 matched controls without the disease has found that people exposed to pesticides in the home and garden are twice as likely to develop the disease. It is thought that certain types of pesticide target the base ganglia in the brain, where they damage nerve cells. The author of the study, Dr. Lorene Nelson, thought that there were probably other factors, such as genetic susceptibility, and called for more research. (6640) David Derbyshire. Daily Telegraph
6.5.00 p11 The first defence of any chemical company being sued for damages is that its product is safe if used in the recommended way. The recommended doses are usually determined by laboratory tests of single products on animals, rather than on humans working and living in the chemical cocktail that is the real world. This distinction is crucial, as new work from Dr. Goran Jamal shows. He cites research by Mohammed Abou-Donia, professor of neurobiology and neurotoxicology at Duke University in North Carolina (US). Dr. Abou-Donia established the safe levels of three different chemicals for his research subjects (battery hens). He also established the lethal dose for one of the chemicals, the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos (manufactured as Dursban by Dow Chemicals). When the hens were given each chemical separately no ill effects occurred. When the three chemicals were given in combination harmful effects equivalent to the lethal effect of chlorpyrifos occurred. In other words, the combination increased the effect of chlorpyrifos by a factor of several hundred. The three chemicals used were typical of combinations found commonly in the outside world: an organophosphate pesticide, a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide and an organochlorine (OP) pesticide. Such combinations are frequently used by livestock farmers, and were used by UK and US troops during the Gulf War. Dr. Jamal explains that such a huge increase in toxicity occurs because some chemicals work by binding to and blocking the action of protective enzymes, thus leaving the body undefended from the other chemicals present. This effect was also shown by Israeli scientists in 1998. They showed how a combination of chemicals undermined the effectiveness of animals' blood-brain barriers, permitting 100-fold higher levels of toxic substances into the central nervous system. It has also been shown that skin exposed to a combination becomes increasingly sensitive. (6337-42) Pesticides News 1.3.00 p10 Initial research from the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona (Spain) suggests a link between the organochlorine pesticide DDT and pancreatic cancer. A possible link was also found with PCBs, a family of chemicals widely used until recently in the electronics industry. The researchers found that 51 patients who suffered from pancreatic cancer also had abnormally high levels of these chemicals in their blood. It was not possible to say whether the genetic abnormality had been caused by the chemicals or whether it made the patients more susceptible to developing the cancer when exposed to the chemicals. A larger study is needed to properly determine whether the suggested link is real. Meanwhile, good news from the UK Government. It intends to destroy existing stockpiles of PCBs by mid 2000 and to set up a new body to review 1,000 widely used chemicals by 2005. (6039-40) Aisling Irwin and Charles
Clover. Daily Telegraph 17.12.99 In 1989 Brian Anderson complained to the European Commission (EC) that he had been poisoned by sheep dip chemicals from a neighbouring farm contaminating his private water supply. (Spent sheep dip is often simply poured into soakaways, often no more than holes in the ground. It then filters through the soil into either the groundwater or into rivers and streams.) As a result, the EC forced the UK Government to review practices for disposal of toxic chemicals on land, and this led to new regulations requiring farmers to seek prior authorisation before dumping sheep dip. A new survey of private water supplies by the Welsh Office during 1997 and 1998 shows that there has been some improvement, but that 20% of private water supplies tested were still being contaminated. In the worst case the level was 22 times the legal limit, and four other samples exceeded the limit. Brian Anderson has been confined to a wheelchair and unable to work since he was poisoned. (6482-83) ENDS 1.2.00 p10 Dr. Paul Shattock - the Director of the University of Sunderland's Autism Research Unit spoke at a conference set up by the Pesticides Action Network to consider the COT report and examine the potential dangers of low-level long term exposure to OPs. He told delegates of his hypothesis that autism and other neurological disorders had physiological/genetic causes including, possibly, exposure to OPs. An analysis of thousands of urine samples supported his hypothesis that OPs can damage the lining of the digestive tract, permitting peptides (parts of proteins) to cross into the bloodstream, having severe effects on the central nervous system. He believes this could be the cause of the perceptual and behavioural disorders of autistic people, and is developing a diet for such people based on his findings. A book is to be published in May 2000. (6333-36) Pesticides News 1.3.00 p9 Random tests of new clothing for traces of chemicals found that Nike soccer jerseys contained the fungicide tributyltin. German retailers removed the shirts from sale pending further investigation. Ed.- Much clothing contains traces of pesticide, whether from crop spraying (e.g. cotton) or to reduce pest damage whilst in storage. It is always wise to wash new clothes thoroughly before wearing. (6523) Grist Magazine 7.1.00 Original source: New York Times 7.1.2000 The Pesticides Trust have produced a series of leaflets giving the least toxic alternatives to pesticides. These cover: timber treatment; head lice; flea control; wasp control; house mite control; cockroach control; and rodent control. They cost £2 each (£7.50 the set) and are available from: The Pesticides Trust, Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ. Ed.- Several studies have shown that cancer rates in children are very much higher where pesticides are used in the home. (6174-79) Pesticides Trust 1.3.00 Irrigation schemes over the last forty years are turning Russia's Aral Sea into a desert. This is considered one of the world's worst environmental disaster zones. It is feared that the health of many millions of people living in the region will be badly affected. Raised levels of childhood pneumonia, respiratory diseases, anaemia and infant mortality are already evident. A team of English scientists suspected that dust blowing off the dried out farmlands may be to blame and took samples. They found that, although systematic spraying is no longer carried out, the dust contained high levels of the OP pesticide phosalone. Ed.- The implications for areas like over-farmed East Anglia (which is developing into dust bowl) are obvious. The case for responsible, mixed agriculture, rotation and organic farming is made yet again. (6473) O'Hara,SL et al. Lancet p627 Milk to the rescue Powdery mildew, which affects cucumbers and courgettes, is a major problem for organic growers. Until very recently, the only known solutions were chemical pesticides like fenarimol and benomyl, which they are not permitted to use. The answer may lie in ordinary milk. Having found that by-products from milk-processing factories seemed to kill the mildew, Wagner Bettiol of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Jaguarina, near Sao Paolo) tried a spray comprising one part milk and nine parts water. The spray was faster and more effective than fenarimol and benomyl. After 2-3 weeks spraying, the infected area of leaves was in some cases only a sixth or less of the plants treated with the two chemical pesticides. Some organic growers in Bettiol's region have controlled less severe mildew with a 5% milk solution sprayed once a week. The milk may be acting against the mildew in two ways. Firstly, milk is known to kill some micro-organisms. Secondly, milk contains potassium phosphate, which boosts the plants' immune system. (5635-37) New Scientist 16.10.99 p10 From September 1999, UK Government laboratories will "name and shame" food producers and retailers whose products are discovered to contain pesticides residues over maximum allowable levels or pesticides illegal in the UK. But don't assume that this means that every other product is safe. The UK's pesticide residue testing is token - the worst in Europe - and residue tests have been found to understate residue levels anyway. Lettuces are amongst the most frequently sprayed crops - an average of 11.7 times through the growing season - and are notorious for containing both illegal and excessive levels of residues. In spite of this, in 1998, routine Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) officers tested just 21 lettuces. By 1996 this had increased fivefold to 113, but still pitiful compared to the Dutch, whose 1200 tests made them top of the lettuce testing league. According to Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, the UK's small numbers render the data nearly unusable. Frequency of testing is also inadequate. In the UK a certain food might be tested a few times one year, and then not again for several years. Only three staples - milk, bread and potatoes - are tested every year. Many foods and drinks, such as plums and coffee, have never been tested. Test reliability: when the PSD checked its own
testing methods by sending foods spiked with a known quantity of pesticide
to three different laboratories, all three came up with analyses 20% or
more down. No-one can explain as yet where that 20%+ went.
(5782-85) Joanna Blythman. Guardian 16.9.99 p14 US findings that the breast fat of women who contracted breast cancer contains higher than normal levels of organophosphate pesticides have now been reinforced by British researchers. David Phillips and colleagues at the Institute of Cancer Research in London took samples of healthy breast tissue from 40 women undergoing breast reduction therapy and found that the tissue - or the chemicals in it - caused genetic damage and mutation in bacterial and human cells. They believe that the fatty tissue which makes up 80% of a woman’s breasts soaks up carcinogens (which tend to be fat-soluble) thus making cells in the breast more likely to form tumours. Whilst some scientists argue that even if the carcinogens can be identified, little can be done to reduce women‘s exposure to them, Phillips believes that reductions in breast cancer are possible. He points out that women in Japan have a very low rate of breast cancer but that this rises dramatically if they move, for instance, to the US. Phillips is open-minded as to the source of the carcinogens, suspecting both food and airborne sources (e,g, pesticides, chemicals). (1462-63) Michael Day. New Scientist 1.12.96 p6 A report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food accepts that nearly a third of all common fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues which may not be removed by washing or peeling. It has also announced that 40% of some of these may contain residues above statutory limits. The Pesticides Trust and the Food Commission are critical of the current ‘snap shot’ safety limits because they take no account of gradual build-up through consumption over time. Tim Lobstein of the Food Commission warns that children are at particular risk because they are consuming pesticide residues throughout whole lifetimes. (See young children most at risk on the children's page) Specific findings in the report include:
Ed.- For those wanting to maintain good health the only course now is to maximise their consumption of organic products. A UK-wide guide to organic sources and door-delivered box schemes is available for £2.50 from The Soil Association, Bristol House, 40-56 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6BY. www.soilassociation.org (1541-43) Paul Nuki. Sunday Telegraph 3.11.96 p11
The UK Central Science Laboratory (CSL) has discovered that the traditional way of measuring levels of pesticides residues in fruit and vegetables has been missing 20-90% of the pesticides. Chopping up the samples is thought to release enzymes and other substances which then degrade the residues. They have now moved to cryogenic milling, where samples are frozen before being ground down and analysed, and are finding substantially higher levels than before. (1680) Pesticides News 1.12..96 p19 In a recent survey of pesticides contamination of apples the most contaminated was a Worcester Pearmain which contained 11 times the recommended maximum recommended level (MRL) of triazophos (an organophosphate insecticide). Any schoolchild or adult eating that apple unpeeled would be consuming four to six times the ‘acute reference dose’ (MAFF definition - 'the maximum amount which can be consumed on a single occasion in the practical certainty that no harm will result’ -Ed.). Scientists say that eating two such contaminated apples could cause stomach pains, especially in small children. The survey found that peeling apples greatly reduces the amount of chemical consumed, but does not eliminate it because some of the pesticide is left in the flesh of the fruit. Of the 700 apples analysed, 126 (18%) registered pesticide levels above the MRL. (1899) Michael Hornsby. Times 15.3 .97 p1 END
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