Some of the pollutants, chemicals and pesticides that have been released into our environment are now in our air, soil, water, food...and our bodies. Studies have linked pesticides to serious illnesses, which may not become symptomatic for years. While everyone is at risk from exposure to these pesticides, a governmental report has identified who is particularly vulnerable to the health risks. This all reminds me of the film, Dead Man Walking: The "title comes from the traditional call in the U.S.A. ..."walking, dead man walking here!" from a prison guard as a condemned prisoner is led into the execution chamber."
This is a two-part diary: Part 1 provides a general overview of pesticides linked to illnesses and Part 2, which is my favorite, is captured by the title, Grassroots Takes On Pesticide Industry --- And Wins Some.
One problem with pesticides is that their negative impacts are not limited to the geographic area of application. In 2000, after 1 year of study, the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment issued a report: "Pesticides: Making the Right Choice For The Protection of Health and the Environment."
Source: Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment Report
This report discussed the dispersal or transportation of pesticides from the application site to destination sites that may be quite a distance away. Precipitation is one mode of transportation for pesticides because it "helps pesticides disperse far from their source through the natural phenomena of water evaporation and condensation." Wind is another transportation vehicle: "Some pesticides are carried by wind in the form of vapour, particles or droplets, which enable them to be transported long distances from their source."
[T]race quantities of such agricultural chemicals nonetheless find their way into consumers' homes—not on the fruits and vegetables they buy but probably by hitchhiking on dust.
Thus, we are not safe from the health impacts of pesticides simply because we were not present at the site of pesticide application.
We don't need a Bhopal disaster to sicken and kill us. While that pesticide plant immediately killed 3,000 people and ultimately killed 15,000, Americans are becoming sick and dying from pesticide exposure.
A number of studies have found a link between pesticides and health risks:
A number of research studies have found higher instances of brain cancer, leukemia and birth defects in children with early exposure to pesticides, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.... Peer-reviewed studies now suggest neurotoxic effects on developing animals from organophosphate pesticides at legally-tolerable levels, including fewer nerve cells, lower birth weights, and lower cognitive scores. The EPA finished a 10 year review of the organophosphate pesticides following the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, but did little to account for developmental neurotoxic effects, drawing strong criticism from within the agency and from outside researchers.
Some scientists think that exposure to pesticides in the uterus may have negative effects on a fetus that may manifest as problems such as growth and behavioral disorders or reduced resistance to pesticide toxicity later in life.
A new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, has discovered a 70% increase in the risk of developing Parkinson's disease for people exposed to even low levels of pesticides.
A 2008 study from Duke University found that the Parkinson's patients were 61 percent more likely to report direct pesticide application than were healthy relatives. Both insecticides and herbicides significantly increased the risk of Parkinson's disease.
One study found that use of pesticides may be behind the finding that the rate of birth defects such as missing or very small eyes is twice as high in rural areas as in urban areas. Another study found no connection between eye abnormalities and pesticides.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians has also rejected Health Canada's position, and issued an influential study in 2004 linking pesticides to such illnesses as leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, while more recently, other research has associated pesticide exposure with Parkinson's disease.
A very specific gene mutation is seen in both non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients and persons who had significant exposure to pesticides:
The Association told the Committee that non-Hodgkin's lymphoma seems to be observed principally among people who are most exposed to pesticides, namely those who work with them. Some researchers have succeeded in demonstrating a significant dose-response relationship between fields sprayed with herbicides and the risk of contracting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, while others have not succeeded in statistically demonstrating this link between the presence of pesticides and the various illnesses observed. Dr. Nicole Bruinsma who belongs to the former group states, Patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, they have a very peculiar gene mutation on one of their chromosomes. It's when one of the genes actually lifts out of the DNA and turns itself around, which is called an inversion mutation. It's very rare. We find it in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Where else do we find it? We find it in those people who have had the greatest exposure to pesticides. We find it in workers who handle concentrated technical formulations, in farmers and other agriculture workers, in exterminators, in pesticide applicators, in lawn and golf-course owners, and in Vietnam War veterans who have been exposed to large doses of 2,4-D or Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.
The occurrence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has "exploded during recent years." In fact, "[o]f nearly 120 studies that have investigated the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with pesticide contact, most showed increased risk—especially for weed killers—according to the Lymphoma Foundation of America."
The Canadian House Report also discusses groups who are vulnerable to pesticides. While every person is susceptible in "varying degrees" to pesticides contaminating our environment, certain groups have a higher risk factor. This is not surprising given that "pesticides are specifically formulated to be toxic to living organisms, and as such, are usually hazardous to humans." The more vulnerable groups include:
Women and Children: The "body types" of women and children render them "more sensitive" to pesticides.
***Children often have greater contact with environmental contaminants because of activities that involve contact with dirt and floor surfaces, and because of hand-to-mouth behavior.
***Children drink more fluids, breathe more air, and eat more food per unit of body weight than adults; they also eat a more limited selection of foods.
***Children's bodies and brains are immature and still developing, they are more susceptible to certain cancers and reproductive problems, and they have a longer expected lifetime in which to develop illness after an exposure. Thus environmental toxicants can have more serious effects on children.
There are certain characteristics of the female body which render women more sensitive to pesticides.
Women, whose bodies contain greater proportions of fatty tissue, are more likely to accumulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Some researchers assume on the basis of this fact that women exposed to pesticides may run a higher risk of developing breast cancer.
Studies indicate that women are more vulnerable to cancer, but there are multiple factors which may impact contaminants, rendering it difficult to establish a definitive causal relationship:
The Sierra Club of Canada stressed the vulnerability of women examined in several studies, including one begun in Windsor in 1995 on the occupational backgrounds of 1,000 people suffering from cancer. This study showed that women living in a farm setting displayed a high rate of pre-menopausal breast cancer. Although a number of studies were cited in support of this hypothesis, it remains difficult, even impossible, to link breast cancer directly with pesticides. A study carried out in Hawaii in 1997, for example, suggests that volcanic soil and acid rain can aggravate the effects caused by pesticide contamination of drinking water and ground water by dieldrin. According to Dr. Kelly Martin, a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment who appeared before the Committee on December 1, 1999, a host of parameters can influence the impact of contaminants, making it almost impossible to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship. This does not prevent the Association from fearing that pesticides are indeed causing, among other things, breast cancer among women.
People in poor health and older people: Sick and older persons are more likely to have "reduced defences against chemical stresses" and thus may have a more severe reaction from pesticides. This category includes people who have asthma, allergies and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). The report wondered if MCS may even be a result of chronic exposure to toxins:
There are also multiple-chemical-sensitive people with less than perfect health, including those with asthma or allergies, as well as individuals with a chemical sensitivity, who suffer the effects of pesticide exposure more severely than those without. We have to wonder how those people became so sensitive to begin with. Is it because of the multiple exposures they've received throughout their foetal and adult life? For such people day-to-day life can present challenges, since there is not often anywhere to hide from the widespread and persistent use of these toxins.
Workers and handlers: Persons who have more frequent and direct contact with pesticides are obviously at higher risk and this includes "people who live in areas where pollutants accumulate, and who also fish, hunt and collect fruit to feed themselves."
Workers and handlers include "farmers and their families, forestry workers, exterminators, grounds keepers, municipal and railway employees, [and] employees in pesticide manufacturing plants."
Persons working with pesticides may also be more vulnerable because, as noted in this report, the information provided in the product warning labels about risks may not be adequate. And, the "precautions (protective equipment, waiting time after an application) suggested to those who handle pesticides may be less effective than commonly thought, and may not protect users from the chronic effects of pesticide exposure."
Of course, a 4th category of vulnerability to pesticide risks are our pets and wildlife. In fact, "[a]nother study, by scientists at Purdue University in Indiana, found that Scottish terriers were four to seven times more likely to develop bladder cancer if they had been exposed to lawn chemicals."
Remember when the Bushies wanted to allow human testing of pesticides, including EPA testing on babies?
What can we do to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of pesticides? If we make choices to eat organic foods, not smoke cigarettes, or other choices to avoid exposure to harmful toxins, what good does it do when we are each day exposed involuntarily to harmful pesticides? Please join me tomorrow in a discussion of how the grassroots is taking on the mighty pesticide industry ...and winning some.
