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Pesticides
Pesticides are the only toxic substances released intentionally
into our environment to kill living things. This includes substances that kill
weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents
(rodenticides), and others.
The use of toxic pesticides to manage pest problems has
become a common practice around the world. Pesticides are used almost
everywhere -- not only in agricultural fields, but also in homes, parks,
schools, buildings, forests, and roads. It is difficult to find somewhere where
pesticides aren't used -- from the can of bug spray under the kitchen sink to
the airplane crop dusting acres of farmland, our world is filled with
pesticides. In addition, pesticides can be found in the air we breathe, the
food we eat, and the water we drink.
When Rachel Carson
wrote Silent Spring in 1962, she raised public awareness about the effects of
pesticide use on our health and our environment. However, almost forty years
after Carson drew attention to the health and environmental impacts of DDT, use of equally hazardous pesticides has
only increased. And all the time there is more evidence surfacing that
human exposure to pesticides is linked to health problems. For example, in May
2010, scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University
released a study that found that exposure to pesticide residues on vegetables
and fruit may double a child’s risk of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition that can cause
inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in children.
Pesticides are used
in our schools, parks, and public lands. Pesticides are sprayed on agricultural
fields and wood lots. Pesticides can be found in our air, our food, our soil,
our water and even in our breast milk.
Pesticides and Human
Health
Pesticides have been
linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from short-term impacts
such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer, reproductive harm,
and endocrine disruption.
Acute dangers - such
as nerve, skin, and eye irritation and damage, headaches, dizziness, nausea,
fatigue, and systemic poisoning - can sometimes be dramatic, and even
occasionally fatal.
Chronic health
effects may occur years after even minimal exposure to pesticides in the
environment, or result from the pesticide residues which we ingest through our
food and water. A July 2007 study conducted by researchers at the Public Health
Institute, the California Department of Health Services, and the UC Berkeley
School of Public Health found a sixfold increase in risk factor for autism
spectrum disorders (ASD) for children of women who were exposed to
organochlorine pesticides.
Pesticides can cause many types of cancer in humans. Some of
the most prevalent forms include leukemia,
non-Hodgkins lymphoma, brain, bone, breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular and
liver cancers. In February 2009, the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry published a study that found that children who live in homes
where their parents use pesticides are twice as likely to develop brain cancer versus those that live in
residences in which no pesticides are used.
Studies by the
National Cancer Institute found that American farmers, who in most respects are
healthier than the population at large, had startling incidences of leukemia, Hodgkins disease, non-Hodgkins
lymphoma, and many other forms of cancer.
There is also
mounting evidence that exposure to
pesticides disrupts the endocrine system, wreaking havoc with the complex
regulation of hormones, the reproductive system, and embryonic development.
Endocrine disruption can produce infertility
and a variety of birth defects
and developmental defects in
offspring, including hormonal imbalance
and incomplete sexual development,
impaired brain development, behavioral disorders, and many others. Examples
of known endocrine disrupting chemicals which are present in large quantities
in our environment include DDT (which still persists in abundance more than 20
years after being banned in the U.S.), lindane, atrazine, carbaryl, parathion,
and many others. ( Lindane masih
digunakan dalam ubat kutu kepala anak kecil anda dan masih dijual di klinik
swasta! Sila lihat leaflet ubat kutu kepala anak anda )
Multiple Chemical
Sensitivity (MCS) is a medical condition characterized by the body's inability
to tolerate relatively low exposure to chemicals. This condition, also referred
to as Environmental Illness, is triggered by exposure to certain chemicals
and/or environmental pollutants. Exposure to pesticides is a common way for
individuals to develop MCS, and once the condition is present, pesticides are often
a potent trigger for symptoms of the condition. The variety of these symptoms
can be dizzying, including everything from cardiovascular problems to
depression to muscle and joint pains. Over time, individuals suffering from MCS
will begin to react adversely to substances that formerly did not affect them.
For individuals
suffering from MCS, the only way to relieve their symptoms is to avoid those
substances that trigger adverse reactions. For some individuals, this can mean
almost complete isolation from the outside world.
Pesticides and
Children
Children are
particularly susceptible to the hazards associated with pesticide use. There is
now considerable scientific evidence that the human brain is not fully formed
until the age of 12, and childhood exposure to some of the most common
pesticides on the market may greatly impact the development of the central nervous
system. Children have more skin surface for their size than adults, absorb
proportionally greater amounts of many substances through their lungs and
intestinal tracts, and take in more air, food and water per pound than adults.
Children have not developed their immune systems, nervous systems, or
detoxifying mechanisms completely, leaving them less capable of fighting the
introduction of toxic pesticides into their systems.
Many of the
activities that children engage in - playing in the grass, putting objects into
their mouth and even playing on carpet - increase their exposure to toxic
pesticides. The combination of likely increased exposure to pesticides and lack
of bodily development to combat the toxic effects of pesticides means that
children are suffering disproportionately from their impacts.
Pesticides and the
Environment
Since the publication
of Rachel Carson’s landmark 1962 book Silent Spring, the impacts of pesticides
on the environment have been well known. Pesticides are toxic to living
organisms. Some can accumulate in water systems, pollute the air, and in some
cases have other dramatic environmental effects. Scientists are discovering new
threats to the environment that are equally disturbing.
Pesticide use can
damage agricultural land by harming beneficial insect species, soil
microorganisms, and worms which naturally limit pest populations and maintain
soil health;
Weakening plant root
systems and immune systems;
Reducing
concentrations of essential plant nutrients in the soil such nitrogen and
phosphorous.
The Myth of Safety: A
Failed Regulatory System
Despite what
government agencies and corporations tell you, pesticide products currently on
the market are not safe, even when they are used legally. There are many flaws
in the way that pesticides are registered and in our political process that
allows corporations to influence pesticide policy to allow the continued use of
their poisonous products.
Even if we know that
a pesticide causes severe health and environmental impacts, including cancer
and genetic damage, it may still be allowed for use. The EPA may determine that
a cancer-causing chemical may be used despite its public health hazard if its
"economic, social or environmental" benefits are deemed greater than
its risk. According to the US EPA, more than 70 active ingredients known to
cause cancer in animal tests are allowed for use.
Although industry
tests for a wide range of environmental and health impacts, the vast majority
of pesticides currently on the market have not been fully tested.
Pesticides often
contain inert ingredients in addition to the active ingredients that are
designed to kill the target pest. Unfortunately, the public is not provided
information about what inert ingredients are included in pesticides in most
cases.
At least 382 of the
chemicals that the U.S. EPA lists as inert ingredients were once or are
currently also registered as pesticide active ingredients. This means that the
public is kept in the dark about the contents of pesticide products that may be
hazardous. Among the ingredients that are listed as both inert and active
ingredients are chloropicrin, which has been linked to asthma and pulmonary edema,
and chlorothanonil, a probable human carcinogen.
The Solution to
Pesticides
We need to make our
food, our air, our water, and our soil free from toxic chemicals.
The real solution to
our pest and weed problems lies in non-toxic and cultural methods of
agriculture, not in pulling the pesticide trigger. Organically grown foods and
sustainable methods of pest control are key to our families’ health and the
health of the environment.
Better testing. State and federal
agencies should require stricter independent testing, including testing of
synergistic effects of pesticides. Pesticides known or suspected of causing
human health problems should be phased out.
Protect our children. Because our children
are the most vulnerable population to pesticides, pesticide use should be
prohibited in places where our children live and play, including schools,
parks, and playgrounds. Require strict non-toxic pest management programs for
such places.
Pesticide Use
Reduction. Provide
technical assistance to farmers, local governments, businesses, and homeowners
on non-toxic alternatives to pesticide use. This includes alternatives to
nuisance spraying for mosquitoes and controlling West Nile virus and other pest
problems.
Prohibit pollution of
our water and poisoning of our communities. Ensure that aerial
pesticide use does not pollute our waterways through strict rules governing
spraying and buffer zones that prevent the harmful effects of drift. Prohibit
the use of pesticides for purely aesthetic reasons. Prevent pesticide applications
to water bodies, instead using non-chemical methods of managing aquatic
invasive weeds. ( Kebanyakkan loji air di
Malaysia mengambil air di hilir sungai manakala di hulu sungai ada banyak ladang
sawit dan sayur yang gunakan pelbagai jenis racun! Selain itu, terdapat banyak
kilang yang mengeluarkan sisa toksik dan logam berat ke dalam sungai! Lebih
malang apabila pusat pelupusan sampah yang mengandungi mercury dari lampu2
kalimantang, plumbum dari bateri2 lama terdapat di bahagian hulu sungai!!!)
Right to know. Provide free and
universal notification to residents about pesticide use, including who is using
chemicals, where, when, how, what pesticides are being used, and why.
Protect workers. Provide protection to
workers and farmers to prevent acute and chronic pesticide poisoning.
For more information
about pesticides, see our reports Clear As A Lake: A Resource Guide to Invasive
Aquatic Plants and Non-Toxic Treatment Alternatives, Refuse to Use Chemlawn,
and Catching the Toxic Drift.
Also, much more information is
available at www.RefuseToUseChemlawn.org,
a joint campaign between Toxics Action Center and Pesticide Watch.
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