Wind : Solar : Organics

THE EFFECTS OF LAWN PESTICIDES

…On Children And Pets

Children and pets are two of the most heavily impacted populations from lawn pesticides.

Your lawn should be safe for babies

• A child’s behavior outdoors or in the home brings them in contact with the ground more than an adult, potentially exposing him or her more directly to pesticides when playing on grass or carpets.

• Children are at a higher risk for health effects from exposure to pesticides than adults because their internal organs are still developing and maturing. Their enzymatic, metabolic, and immune systems provide less natural protection than those of an adult.

• There are “critical periods” in human development when exposure to a toxin can permanently alter the way a child’s biological system develops and operates.

• Children in families who use professional pest control services are at a higher risk of developing leukemia than children in families who don’t use pesticides.

• A University of Southern California study showed that children whose parents used garden pesticides were 6.5 times more likely to develop leukemia.

• Pets can eat or lick up lawn care chemicals while rolling in the grass or cleaning themselves.

• A Purdue University study found that Scottish terriers were four to seven times more likely to develop bladder cancer if they had been exposed to lawn chemicals.

  

  Your pets deserve a healthy place to play

• A National Cancer Institute study reports a positive association with an owner’s use of the popular crabgrass killer 2,4-D and their pet dog’s chances of getting cancer.

…On Your Health

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a study of 9,282 people nationwide, found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person carried 13 of 23 pesticides tested.

Pesticides have an effect on our health

Some common lawn pesticides and their effects on human health:

• Organophosphate poisoning symptoms include excessive sweating, salivation and lachrimation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramp, general weakness, headache, poor concentration and tremors. In serious cases, respiratory failure and death can occur.

• Carbamate poisoning symptoms include excessive urination, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, convulsions, and in severe cases respiratory failure. Carbamates are possible carcinogens according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

• Phenoxy and benzoic acid herbicides like 2,4 D, MCPP, and MCPA affect the central nervous system. Acute symptoms of exposure include involuntary twitching, loss of sensation, vomiting, abdominal pains, diarrhea, weakness, fatigue, dermatitis, and aching muscles. Chronic symptoms of exposure include reproductive effects, birth defects, cancer of soft tissues, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and negative effects on the liver and kidneys.

• Pyrethroids are rated as possible carcinogens according to the USEPA and affect the central and peripheral nervous systems. Poisoning symptoms include asthma-like reactions, sneezing, headache, nausea, lack of coordination, convulsions, tremors, facial flushing and swelling, and burning and itching sensations

• Organochlorines are a chemical class that includes other well-known toxic compounds, such as PCBs, tetrachloroethylene, aldrin, chloroform, DDT, dieldrin, and heptachlor. Immediate and long-term effects include, but are not limited to convulsions, nausea, hypertension, cancer, central nervous system damage, lung damage, and anemia. Organochlorides are suspected teratogens and mutagens. Organochlorines are very persistent in the environment and they bioaccumulate in plants and animal tissues.

…On Wildlife

Frogs are our garden friends!

• Seventy million pounds of pesticides are applied each year to lawns that are also home to beneficial species such as earthworms, which actually harms lawn health.

• Many common lawn pesticides are toxic to fish, frogs, and other aquatic organisms.

• Species that live or feed on turf, such as robins, raccoons, squirrels, and bees are highly exposed to lawn chemicals.

• An estimated 67 million birds are lost each year to pesticides on farmland alone.

• Chemical lawn & garden pesticides are a leading cause of bird mortality in New York.
• Domestic pesticide use now accounts for the majority of wildlife poisonings reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
• …On Water
  

  Algae bloom due to chemical fertilizer use

• Chemical pesticides and fertilizers can leach into groundwater.

• Nitrate and phosphate runoff from fertilizer treatment flows into lakes and streams, causing algae blooms that use up oxygen, killing other aquatic life and ultimately impacting recreation and property values.

• Chemical lawn care advises use of water after pesticide and fertilizer application to ensure the product migrates into the soil – the average lawn consumes about 10,000 gallons of water over and above rainfall.

• Over half of urban water use in California goes to watering lawns.

Frequent application of pesticides can create resistance in pest species requiring even more concentrated and frequent applications and ultimately creating a chemical-dependent lawn.

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