Pesticide news :
It was in February 2001 that Down To Earth broke the story.
A link was established between the unusually high incidence of deformities and diseases in Padre — a village in Kerala’s Kasaragod district — and endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide. The Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) had been spraying endosulfan since the mid-1970s on its cashew plantations. The people of Padre had long been waging a lonely battle against the spraying of the pesticide. Laboratory analysis conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, revealed that all samples collected from the village contained very high levels of the pesticide that has ironically been either banned or restricted in many countries.
Both the Union and state governments banned aerial spraying of endosulfan. The crusade seemed headed towards its logical conclusion.
Instead, the pesticide lobby opened up a new front as it launched an offensive to fight for its existence. At stake was the fate of an industry worth Rs 4,100 crore. Thus began a virulent campaign that involved top scientists, agriculturalists and officials. The agenda was two-fold: to discredit CSE’s study and prove that endosulfan was safe and harmless. The campaign strategy had three components: disinformation, manufacturing data and influencing government agencies to lift the ban.
Soon articles, interviews and advertisements began appearing in the media painting endosulfan as a safe pesticide.
The endosulfan battle is a litmus test for the industry — a defeat here could not only hurt profits, but also encourage more communities to come out in the open and more pesticides being put on the hit list. For now it seems that their strategy is working. In March this year, the ban on endosulfan was lifted under mysterious circumstances.
May 1, 2004. Pesticides
Beware of these red chillies
16 kilometres from Bellary. Farmers
here do not spray but pour chemicals on to heaps of chilly. These farmers are migrants from nearby Andhra Pradesh and they do not follow the conventional method of chilly cultivation. Following July rains they begin sowing seeds in rows and when they are two weeks old they are transplanted. After mixing manure and water, the spray of chemicals begins. For one peak crop, 15 to 16 sacks
of chemical manure are sprayed in every acre. Uninhibited spraying is carried out irrespective of whether there is pest attack on crops or not. Varieties of pesticides like chloropyriphos, monocrotophos are mixed together and sprayed.
Foreign buyers have detected high chemical content in the chillies and the rejected chillies find way
in to our kitchens. Horticulture officers are supposed to examine the pharmaceutical shops for chemicals
and regulate their use on the crops. But the shop owners manage to dupe the officials.
March 11, 2004. International News.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)- a double indemnity Diethyldimethyltrichloromethane (DDT), one of the most widely used chemical insecticides in the world has banned by many countries including the US and Sweden. A persistent pesticide, DDT is known to survive in the fatty tissue of animals and humans for up to 20 years. Recent evidence shows that it causes irreparable harm to reproductive health. In a study conducted by Tiaan de Jager professor, Department of Health science and Urology, University of Pretoria, men who were exposed to DDT that was used to control malaria, were found to have lower semen volumes. The debate whether it is justified to ban DDT or not continues irrespective of it being a known hazard.
Jan 3, 2002 International News
Poisoned by vegetables
Poisoned by vegetables According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), eating lettuce or other vegetables grown in fields irrigated by the Colorado River may be poisonous to health.Vegetables that use the contaminated irrigated water are known to store high concentrations of the perchlorate, a thyroid toxin that is the explosive main ingredient of rocket and missile fuel. Lettuce is able to take up and store 95 per cent of the perchlorate present in the water. With such high rate of bioaccumulation, lettuce grown in water with even low levels of perchlorate can thus deliver large doses of the toxin to consumers
March 3, 2003 International News
America takes action
Lax policies on fast food, which is usually, junk, high on fat content and almost zero in nutritive
value aids the rise in the obesity epidemic sweeping across America. Almost 43 per cent of elementary schools, 74 per cent of middle schools and all high schools have vending machines offering carbonated soft drinks. Fast food like McDonald's is available in more than 20 per cent of schools at all levels. Schools get payoff from the coke companies and the fast food joints in terms of sports uniforms and scoreboards-, which helps schools cut down on their education budgets. California in the meantime has banned the sale of soda and junk food in elementary schools and has limited their sale in middle school. In Tennessee and Wisconsin, it was the parents protests that made school districts refuse to sign contracts with soft-drink vendors.
March 20, 2002 "Impure" Pure Juice
About 500 bottles of "super size" Tropicana Pure Premimum Calcium Orange Juice have been found to be inadvertently exposed to a cleaning solution during the routine bottle equipment cleaning process. The company has recalled back the entire production run of its 128 oz. juice packaged in plastic bottles which carry the expiration or "best before" date of APR 15 printed on the neck of the bottles.Cleaning solution found in the juice is known to cause mouth and/or stomach distress. April 29, 2002 International news
Cancerous food
A study carried out by Stockholm University and scientists at Sweden's National Food Administration has found that foods such as bread, biscuits, chips and french fries contain high quantities of acrylamide, a substance believed to cause cancer. A white, odourless, flake-like substance, acrylamide is often used in drinking water treatment and also in the making of chemicals and dyes, ore processing and in the construction of foundations and tunnels.
"An ordinary bag of potato chips may contain up to 500 times more of the substance than the top level allowed in drinking water by the World Health Organization (WHO)", says Leif Busk, head of the Swedish administration's research department. A crystalline solid, acrylamide is classified as a medium hazard probable human carcinogen by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). It is known to bring about gene mutations and has been found in animal tests to cause benign and malignant stomach tumors. It is also known to cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems.
May 14, 2002 International News
Sweet Poison
The American Environmental Safety Institute (AESI) has filed a lawsuit against Nestle, Kraft, Hershey and other chocolate manufacturing companies, saying that they have violated health laws that require warnings on food products containing hazardous chemcials.Chocolates contain trace elements such as lead and cadmimum. Lead is known to threaten the normal development of children and affect their mental faculties. Cadmimum can cause kidney failure and inflammation in the lungs.
Orange drinks with 300 times more pesticide than tap water
Published: 06 Jan 2009 01:22:42 PST
Fizzy drinks sold by Coca-Cola in Britain have been found to contain pesticides at up to 300 times the level allowed in tap or bottled water.
A worldwide study found pesticide levels in orange and lemon drinks sold under the Fanta brand, which is popular with children, were at their highest in the UK.
The researchers tested 102 cans and bottles of soft drinks, bought from 15 countries, for the presence of 100 pesticides. The UK products were bought in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, St Andrews and at Gatwick Airport.
The experts said the levels found were low under the maximum residue levels allowed for fruit, but they were 'very high' and 'up to 300 times' the figure permitted for bottled or tap water.
The chemicals detected included carbendazim, thiabendazole, imazalil, prochloraz, malathion and iprodione. They are mainly applied to fruit after harvest to stop it developing fungal infections and rotting.
A total of 19 products were bought in the UK, all made by Coca-Cola.
Two orange drinks bought in the UK contained imazalil at 300 times the limit permitted for a single pesticide in drinking water.
Two similar products contained 98 times the legal drinking water limit for thiabendazole.
The average level of the total pesticide contamination of the British drinks was 17.4 parts per billion - 34.6 times the EU maximum residue level for water.
Coca-Cola GB insisted the products are safe. A spokesman said: 'All of the drinks tested meet the safety regulations relating to food products made from agricultural ingredients, which include drinks with fruit juice as an ingredient.
'The generally miniscule levels that were detected were well within the acceptable daily intake levels and these findings should reassure consumers there is no safety issue here.'
Japan Detects Pesticide In Frozen Beans From China
Published: 15 Oct 2008 18:56:12 PST
TOKYO (AFP)--Japan Wednesday ordered retailers to pull frozen green beans imported from China off the shelves after a woman fell ill eating them, the health ministry said. The woman felt numb in her mouth Sunday after eating a dish using frozen green beans from China, which she had bought at a Tokyo supermarket, a health ministry official said.
She went to hospital and was released with no apparent health problems after an overnight check, the official said.
The health ministry instructed retailers and importers nationwide to suspend sales of the beans from the Chinese supplier "until the cause of the incident becomes clear," the official said. The Tokyo metropolitan government conducted tests Tuesday and found that the beans had 34,500 times the pesticide residue level permitted by the Japanese government. The importer, Tokyo-based Nichirei Foods, said it procured the beans from a company called Yantai Beihai Foodstuff in eastern Shandong province.
It is the latest scare in Japan about Chinese-made food products.
In December and January, 10 people suffered pesticide poisoning and thousands of others reported feeling sick after eating frozen dumplings imported from China.
China has also been hit by a scandal over milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, which has killed four children and caused at least 53,000 others to become ill.
Food safety has turned into a major political issue in Japan which imports 60% of its food - the highest rate of any rich country.
Special Report
PERCHLORATE IN INFANT FORMULA
CDC researchers have found trace levels of perchlorate, a strong oxidizer best known for its use in rocket fuel, in
several brands of powdered infant formula sold in the U.S. The highest levels of the contaminant were found in
lactose-containing formulas made from cow's milk. The International Formula Council, a trade association,
reassured consumers that the levels of perchlorate detected in infant formula are far below those deemed safe by
FDA and EPA. But the study suggests that the safe daily dose could be exceeded when perchlorate-contaminated
water is used to reconstitute the formula. News of the contaminated formula prompted environmental activists and
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to urge EPA to set a safe level for perchlorate in drinking water immediately instead
of seeking a study from the National Academy of Sciences, which could take several years. Perchlorate is of concern
because it can interfere with thyroid function. (C&EN, 4/13/09)
Three pesticides found to harm endangered fish
On April 20, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released a Biological Opinion (BiOp) finding that three additional pesticides, carbaryl, carbofuran, and methomyl, harm salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The BiOp prescribes measures necessary to keep these pesticides out of salmon waters in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. It is the second such plan issued in the last six months under a court settlement with fishermen and conservationists, filed by the non-profit law firm Earthjustice. The previous BiOp identified three organophosphate insecticides: chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion.
"These pesticides are designed to kill insects on agricultural crops, but when they get into the water system, they also kill aquatic insects that salmon feed on." said Angela Somma, who heads the NMFS endangered species division.
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/carbamate.pdf
Pesticides blamed for some childhood brain cancers
From: Heather Hamlin , Environmental Health News
Published May 8, 2009 10:08 AM
Little is known conclusively about what causes brain cancer in children, but research studies are consistently finding links to prebirth pesticide exposure.
A new study finds 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. Herbicide use appeared to cause a particularly elevated risk for a certain type of cancer.
It is well established that many pesticides cause cancer in animals.
This study highlights a new and compelling reason to avoid or limit pesticide use and take necessary precautions during exposure. It also adds to a growing body of research that finds that pesticide exposure -- especially with farm life and pesticide use -- might be contributing significantly to this deadly disease.
Brain cancer is the second most common cancer in children, yet why it develops is not clear. Genetics plays a role in some cases, but researchers believe those not due to associated genes are related to environmental factors and exposures.
The authors explain that "parental exposures may act before the child’s conception, during gestation, or after birth to increase the risk of cancer." Exposures at each time period may trigger different changes that lead to cancers, such as genetic mutations or changes in gene expression or hormone and immune function.
The study evaluated more than 800 fathers and more than 500 mothers that lived in residential areas in four Atlantic Coast states (Florida, New Jersey, New York (excluding New York City) and Pennsylvania). Researchers match and compare every person that is "exposed" to an "unexposed" person of the same age and status. In this case, more than 400 fathers and 250 mothers of exposed children were included.
Autism Rates Tied to Environmental Factors, Not Changing Diagnoses
(Beyond Pesticides, January 23, 2009) A study by researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has found that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in California with autism since 1990, a trend which shows no sign of abating, cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted, and that environmental factors must be looked at more closely.
The incidence of autism by age six in California has increased from fewer than nine in 10,000 for children born in 1990 to more than 44 in 10,000 for children born in 2000. Some have argued that this change could have been due to migration into California of families with autistic children, inclusion of children with milder forms of autism in the counting and earlier ages of diagnosis as consequences of improved surveillance or greater awareness.
Dr. Hertz-Picciotto and Ms. Delwiche correlated the number of cases of autism reported between 1990 and 2006 with birth records and excluded children not born in California. They used Census Bureau data to calculate the rate of incidence in the population over time and examined the age at diagnosis of all children ages two to 10 years old.
The methodology eliminated migration as a potential cause of the increase in the number of autism cases. It also revealed that no more than 56 percent of the estimated 600-to-700 percent increase, that is, less than one-tenth of the increased number of reported autism cases, could be attributed to the inclusion of milder cases of autism. Only 24 percent of the increase could be attributed to earlier age at diagnosis.
"These are fairly small percentages compared to the size of the increase that we've seen in the state," Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. The remaining percentage must then be explained by genetics or environmental inputs. "There's genetics and there's environment. And genetics don't change in such short periods of time," she said.
"Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones. We need to even out the funding," Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. One recent study of environmental factors linked residential proximity to pesticides and a higher incidence of autism.
Dr. Hertz-Picciotto and her colleagues at the M.I.N.D Institute are currently conducting two large studies aimed at discovering the causes of autism. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto is the principal investigator on the CHARGE (Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment) and MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) studies.
"We're looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and infectious agents on neurodevelopment," Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. "If we're going to stop the rise in autism in California, we need to keep these studies going and expand them to the extent possible."
Source: Environmental Health Perspectives
Sexual Disruption Linked to Environmental Pollutants
(Beyond Pesticides, January 22, 2009) A new English study has found that chemicals found in rivers and waste waters could be linked to male infertility. These chemicals, known as anti-androgens, block the action of the male sex-hormone testosterone and could impact the development of male reproductive organs in humans.
"We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but we do not know where they are coming from or what they are. We've only been able to measure their testosterone-blocking potential" said Susan Jobling, PhD, of Brunel University, one of the authors of the study.
The scientists analyzed anti-androgenic activity in samples of river water taken near 30 sewage outflows. They were able to demonstrate statistically that this activity could be linked with feminized fish found in the same rivers. Several chemicals in widely-used pharmaceuticals and pesticides are known to have anti-androgenic activity. They include several compounds found in agricultural pesticides.
Relatively high levels of anti-androgenic chemicals were detected near sewage outflows, suggesting they came from domestic sources. One possibility is that drugs excreted from the body may end up in rivers. However, the scientists also believe that the anti-androgens may also be seeping into rivers as run-off from agricultural land.
Feminization of male fish is a phenomena documented in recent decades in many rivers and surface waters in the US and Britain. Studies have long pointed to chemical contaminants such as pesticides and other endocrine disrupting chemicals, as having the potential for wreaking such hormonal chaos. Many pesticides have been implicated, including atrazine, permethrin, glyphosate (Round-Up) and 2,4-D. Other animals like polar bears, big cats, alligators and frogs have been observed with abnormalities in their reproductive organs, which have been attributed to environmental contaminants. Research has also shown that pregnant women exposed to environmental contaminants gave birth to babies with male reproductive defects.
India: Pesticide level in veggies, fruits rises
Time:11 Jun 2009
The presence of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables is getting higher than the maximum permissible levels (MPL), revealed a recent survey by the Union government. Besides, vegetables from some parts of Uttar Pradesh were found presence of banned pesticides. The survey, conducted over a year from November 2007 to October 2008 across the country by the Union agriculture and cooperation ministry, found that 18% vegetables and 12% fruits, both home grown and imported, contained pesticide residues, including banned pesticides.
In 4% vegetables and 2% fruits, these residues are higher than the maximum permissible levels. The survey, which considered water sample and market samples of vegetables, fruits, spices, cereal grains, milk, butter, fish, tea, honey, meat and marine products, for possible presence of pesticide residues, analysed a total of 12,004 samples during the year.
"About 18% (664) of the total 3,648 vegetable samples of brinjal, okra (lady's finger), tomato, cabbage and cauliflower, was found residues. Vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflower, okra and tomato had the highest amount of pesticide residue," the survey said.
A total of 1,726 samples of apple, banana, grapes, orange, pomegranate, guava and mango were analysed in 15 different laboratories. The pesticides found in fruits mainly included chlorpyriphos, monocrotophos, profenophos and cypermethrin. Banned pesticides were mainly found in the samples analysed by the Lucknow laboratory. These samples were collected from Gorakhpur, Faizabad and Allahabad. About 54% of them were found residues.
The banned pesticides include aldrin, HCH, chlordane, DDT, dimethoate, chlorpyrifos and heptachlor. "Though residues of banned pesticides have not been reported in other parts of the country, these results need to be reconfirmed," the survey said. Phytosanitary experts said banned pesticides, such as DDT, which are still used in the malaria eradication programme, find their illegal way into the agriculture system, while the residue of other banned pesticides can be found due to their presence in the soil and water.
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/2645
South Asia hunger back at 1960s famine levels
By David Mark for AM
Posted Wed Jun 3, 2009 10:37am AEST
Updated Wed Jun 3, 2009 1:50pm AEST
An Indian man and woman stand outside their dwelling in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. (AFP/UNICEF: Brian Sokol)
A United Nations report says the number of people going hungry in South Asia has jumped by 100 million in the past two years.
The UNICEF report says the global economic crisis has exacerbated poverty in a region where more than 1 billion people live on less than $2 a day.
The number of people suffering from chronic hunger in South Asia is now the same as it was 40 years ago.
The raw figures are stark. In the South Asian countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, one third of people are going hungry.
Almost half of all children are underweight, as regional director of UNICEF in South Asia Daniel Toole explains.
"Perhaps the most dramatic impact is that we see that there are about 100 million more people hungry in South Asia than two years ago. That's a huge change," he said.
"It's the biggest number of hungry - almost 400 million people hungry in South Asia - bigger than 30 years ago, bigger than 20 years ago; the biggest since the big famines in the 1960s. So that's a really, really big impact already."
The UNICEF report, 'A Matter of Magnitude', blames rising fuel and food prices, conflicts in the region, and the impact of the global economic meltdown for the dramatic rise.
Canadian Farmer On Global Crusade Against GM Seeds
New Delhi (AFP) Feb 8, 2007
When Monsanto decided to take Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser to court for using its seeds, the US biotech giant didn't know it was creating a folk hero for the anti-GM crop movement. Since losing a series of court battles with Monsanto, Schmeiser has been travelling the world on a crusade against genetically modified (GM) crops and patenting seeds, speaking to environment groups and public gatherings.
"I've always campaigned on the right of a farmer to save and use his own seed," Schmeiser told an anti-GM conference of environmentalists and farmers in the Indian capital this week.
GM crops have become a hot-button issue in India with some seeing it as key to boosting food output while others fear the long-term impact of such a step. "No one should have the right to patent life, it's a mad science," said the 76-year-old Schmeiser.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said late last year the country needed to "strike a balance between using the potential of biotechnical to meet the requirements of hungry people, while addressing ethical concerns about interferring with nature."
India has so far not allowed cultivation of GM crops for human consumption and cotton is the only such crop grown commercially.
GM critics say there is not enough research to determine that such GM crops are safe for people to eat or for the environment.
"Once you introduce a life form into the environment there's no calling it back. You can't contain the wind, you can't contain the seed movement. You can't contain it and it will spread, says Schmeiser, a third-generation farmer.
"You can't stop birds and bees from moving seed and this means organic and farmers using GM crops can't coexist," Schmeiser said.
Schmeiser's biggest worry now is a package of genes known as the "terminator." When introduced into seeds, the genes make sure the ensuing plants can never produce seeds of their own -- helping solve the seed piracy problem.
However, critics say this would make poor farmers around the world dependent on companies to provide them with the seeds each year. There is a UN moratorium at present blocking commercialisation of terminator seeds.
"It is the greatest assault on life we have ever seen on the face of the planet - seeds that are sterile," Schmeiser said.
India prey to unsafe GM foods: Expert
Charging the Indian government with allowing itself to be swayed by foreign manufacturers of potentially unsafe genetically modified (GM) foods, already rejected by the US and European markets, US-based food expert John Fagan, who is Associate Director, Institute of Science and Technology and Public Policy, Iowa, today warned the government of serious health and climactic hazards posed by these crops. He was delivering a lecture on ‘Food safety and food security in the era of climate change and biotechnology’ at Guru Nanak Dev University.
