Recently in Health and Human Services (HHS) Category

The U.S. EPA plans to strengthen its assessment of pesticide health risks.

Change takes time, but the EPA has been slow to regulate and enforce green approaches to chemical use in the US.  The chemical industry lobby is very strong, but EPA is finally approaching pesticide dangers as... well, dangers to "voters", not just profit and tax sources for big business.

First Comes Assessment...

The U.S. EPA plans to strengthen its assessment of pesticide health risks.

EPA's proposal would include a more thorough assessment of risks to workers, including farmworkers and farm children, as well as risks posed by pesticides that are not used on food.

"The agency is asking the public to comment on the new approach and how best to implement the improvements."

Agricultural pesticide applications doesn't just affect agricultural workers.  With urban sprawl, many elementary schools are being build on the fringes of communities where land is available and "cheap".  A patchwork quilt of agricultural land surrounds many of these suburban schools...and the wind carries pesticides right into the school buildings and playgrounds.

Parents and school staff members could play a valuable rule in assessing pesticide risks to school children, as well as the workers who grow their food.    

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson: "Better information and applying assessment tools will strengthen EPA's protections for farm workers exposed to these chemicals, and children living in and around the areas of highest possible exposure," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "It's essential we have the tools to keep everyone, especially vulnerable populations like children, safe from the serious health consequences of pesticide exposure."

Aggregate, Cumulative Effects of Pesticides

Under the policy, EPA risk assessments for children, farmworkers and others, would consider aggregate pesticide exposures from all sources in addition to the cumulative effects from multiple pesticides that have similar toxicity.

Protection from Incomplete Data

Maybe it's time that ALL chemicals be tested for toxicity and cumulative impact before they are authorized for market distribution.  That would be a seismic change in the chemicals marketplace.

Chemical Impact on Children and Other Highly Vulnerable Populations

EPA could apply an additional safety factor to protect infants and children from the risks of pesticides where the available data are incomplete. Currently these analyses help assess risks of pesticides to the general public as required by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Common Scientific Risk-assessment Techniques

EPA believes that pesticide exposure should be evaluated with common scientific risk-assessment techniques, whether from residues in food or drinking water, on lawns or in swimming pools, or in the workplace. The agency would routinely apply the techniques to workers exposed to pesticide exposures on the job.

By incorporating these risk-assessment tools into its pesticide evaluations, EPA would more thoroughly protect the most vulnerable populations, including farm workers and children taken into agricultural fields.

The proposed policy will be available for a 60-day public comment period after it is published in the Federal Register.

Citizen input is important to balance the influence of lobbying from the chemical and pesticide industries. 

More information on the proposed rule 

CONTACT:   

For the Spanish translation 

For general questions on pesticides and pesticide poisoning prevention, contact the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), toll free, at: 1-800-858-7378, by E-mail at npic@ace.orst.edu, or by visiting their website at: http://npic.orst.edu/

To report an environmental violation, visit EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints/index.html

For information about EPA's pesticide program, visit our homepage at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/

Writing about complex scientific stories isn't easy, and takes years of both study and research.  These two investigative reporters have been honored for their dedication.

Susanne Rust & Meg Kissinger

Chemical Fallout
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Thirty years ago, a carcinogenic flame-retardant material was taken out of children's pajamas.  In 2008 it was being used with frequency in products such as baby carriers and bassinetts.  This was just one of several discoveries made by Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in their series, "Chemical Fallout."

The team exposed government programs that favored chemical makers over the public and conflicts of interests among regulators.  Rust and Kissinger reported that there was no such thing as "microwave-safe" plastics. An outside laboratory tested containers labeled as such and found toxic levels of chemicals leached from every item.

The Journal Sentinel team did their homework: They reviewed hundreds of scientific journal articles and worked with scientists to determine that the federal government's assurances that bisphenol A (a chemical compound found in many plastics) is safe are based on outdated U.S. government studies and research heavily funded by the chemical industry. PBS broadcaster Bill Moyers compared the reporting to the legendary Upton Sinclair. David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said that the Sentinel was doing the work that the agency should have been doing all along to protect the public.

Susanne Rust

Senior Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Susanne Rust was part of a reporting team that won the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi award and the Society of American Business Writers and Editors award for detailing chemical dangers and lax regulations in Washington, D.C. The team also won the 2008 John B. Oakes Award.  Rust has continued to break new ground throughout 2008 with more stories exposing the failures of the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration.  In her five years at the Sentinel, Rust has also trekked through the hills of Rwanda to cover stories on civil engineering and AIDS; hacked through the dense foliage of a Ugandan rain forest in search of mountain gorillas; poked around Scotland's Roslin Institute looking for clones; and written about eco-friendly agriculture in Costa Rica.  Before joining the Sentinel, Rust pursued a doctorate in biological anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Meg Kissinger

Investigative Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Meg Kissinger is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's investigative reporter focusing on health and welfare.  She and two of her colleagues won the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi award and the Society of American Business Writers and Editors Award for a series of articles on the government's failure to screen for dangerous chemicals in household products.  The series also won the 2008 John B. Oakes Award.  Kissinger has spent the last year breaking new ground on the failures of the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration to regulate toxic chemicals.  She was a finalist for the 2007 Selden Ring and Investigative Reporters and Editors awards for her reports on the filthy and dangerous housing conditions in Milwaukee County for people with mental illness. That series won the Mental Health America Award for best news repoting.  In her 25 years in the newsroom, Kissinger has written about abuses in the nursing home industry, the scam of the door-to-door magazine sales industry and the travails of an oncologist who unwittingly discovered his own end-stage cancer.  

Surface water pollution from urban pesticide use is a known, widespread problem in the U.S.  This has been documented not only by USGS, but also by numerous scientific studies by academic researchers, data from municipal urban runoff programs, and surface water impairment designations under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (often these listings are for "toxicity" rather than a specific pesticide).  U.S. EPA's pesticides office is keenly aware of this problem.

Pesticide-related Toxicity in Surface Waters

In California, pesticide-related toxicity in surface waters receiving urban runoff is has been severe and widespread since the mid-1990s. Addressing this toxicity is a priority for Calfornia's water and pesticide regulators. With the phase-out of most urban uses of diazinon and chlorpyrifos, the toxicity has shifted--it is now occurring in both the water column (during storm events) and sediments (all the time) in urban creeks across California. 

The current toxicity is associated with the use of the currently most common class of urban insecticides--the pyrethroids (i.e. bifenthrin, cypermethrin, cyfluthrin, etc.).  Similar toxicity has also been documented in Texas urban areas.

Substituting Pesticides Also Causes Biodiversity Problems

Since some in this thread mentioned pesticide phase outs, it is important to recognize that the likely substitute for pyrethroids is fipronil, which is already seeing growing use in California--and is beginning to appear in surface water at levels close to those known to be toxic to sensitive aquatic organisms.  It is becoming clear that simply changing pesticides isn't going to solve these water quality problems.

Professional Insecticide Applicators Are the Link

Substantial effort is underway in California to identify the sources of pesticide-related urban surface water toxicity.  Available data show a direct link to outdoor, above-ground insecticide applications by professional applicators. 

Ants Are the Most Common Insect Problem in California

In California, ants are the most common insect problem and it is a common practice (particularly among commercial property owners and multi-family residential property managers) to retain a professional applicator to spray a band of insecticides around structures every 1-2 months.  Much of the treated area around structures is impervious surface, some of which is directly connected to storm drains (DCIA). 

Pre-construction termiticide and Post-construction Pyrethroids

Other possible sources include pre-construction termiticide ground surface treatments (if a rain event occurs before building foundations are poured), and both professional and non-professional applications in other outdoor locations (applications to lawns/landscaping have not been ruled out as potentially meaningful contributors to toxicity).

Underground injection of pyrethroids (i.e., for post-construction termite control) is unlikely to contribute to surface water toxicity.  Most California municipalities are served by separate storm drain systems comprised completely of hard surfaces (i.e., no vegetated channels)--thus pesticides in runoff are efficiently delivered to urban creeks.

Greatest Water Pollution Problem: Insecticides vs Herbicides

There is a long-time myth that homeowner lawn/garden applications of pesticides (particularly herbicides) are a big problem.  Maybe they are in some locations, but available scientific data strongly suggest that insecticides--not herbicides--are of greatest concern in urban areas and that (at least in California) professional pesticide applications--and intentional applications of pesticides to impervious surfaces--should be the priorities for stormwater quality management.

Urban Pesticides Pollution Prevention Project (UP3 Project)

With grant funding from the California State Water Resources Control Board, the Urban Pesticides Pollution Prevention Project (UP3 Project) is working with U.S. EPA, California EPA, municipalities, and other stakeholders to understand and prevent pesticide-related surface water pollution.  Pesticide regulators and pesticide manufacturers are aware of these problems and are working to change their systems to address them.  For more information (and reports that document the statements above), please see www.up3project.org.

Kelly Moran, Ph.D.
TDC Environmental
UP3 Project

P.S. Wastewater treatment plants are not immune to pesticide-related problems.  Discharges of certain pesticides (including biocides) to municipal wastewater treatment plants have been problematic, in some instances, for compliance with NPDES permit effluent limitations and operation of biological treatment processes.

The HHS provides information on laws and regulations pertaining to healthcare from a variety of organizations including the

• Food and Drug Administration,
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
• Health Resources and Services Administration,
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
• Indian Health Services

Visit the HHS web site (www.hhs.gov) for more information.