Winter 2019–2020 Pesticides and Yo U Highly Destructive Pesticide Effects Unregulated Widely Used Fungicide Found to Adversely Affect Enzyme Common to All Cells
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Beyond Pesticides: Protecting Health and the Environment with Science, Policy, and Action Volume 39, Number 4 • Winter 2019–2020 Pesticides and Yo u Highly Destructive Pesticide Effects Unregulated Widely used fungicide found to adversely affect enzyme common to all cells FEATURES Pesticide Use Violates Human Rights United Nations and others find adverse effects and global human rights violations Supporting Life in the Soil— The Foundation of an Organic System Hydroponic production defies the foundational organic principle of “feed the soil, not the plant” Cost Comparison: Organic vs Chemical Land Management Indaziflam: An Information for Action Factsheet Beware: Is this the Roundup weed killer alternative? Tracking Biodiversity: Burrowing Rodents—Gophers and Ground Squirrels www.BeyondPesticides.org WINTER 2019–2020 • PESTICIDES AND YOU i LETTER FROM WASHINGTON Communities Act as Health and Environmental Threats Escalate s the complexity of chemical interactions in the envi- This is not a new position for Beyond Pesticides. It is why ronment and their effect on living organisms explodes, we began pushing for organic in 1981 when we were founded, Awe are in a period of diminishing regulation. So, we creating the foundation for the change urgently needed in turn to local decision makers—whether in households or our communities and nation. We do not have time to tinker, on farms, school or park districts, or local governments— accept half-measures, or reject precaution as a matter of to consider the threats of pesticides and make the decision policy and practice. to eliminate their use. In this issue of Pesticides and You, we highlight a science Aggressively Advancing Organic piece published by the American Association for the Advance- The importance of organic cannot be overstated. As major ment of Science about the effect of a fungicide on organisms corporations see market opportunities, we cannot accept the well beyond its target, a fungus. The article reports, “The weakening of the original organic law’s rigorous process, ability of [the fungicide] fludioxonil, to act on a sugar- as is happening more and more. We will hold groups that metabolizing enzyme common to all cells, and to produce waver, either by their words or their silence, accountable the damaging compound methylglyoxal, may mean that the to the tough standards that birthed the burgeoning organic pesticide has more potential to harm non-fungal cells than sector, as we did in a recent OrganicEye release on new previously thought.” This pesticide’s original use on stored appointees to the National Organic Standards Board. When seeds expanded to grains, vegetables, fruits, ornamental the Organic Trade Association, representing the largest food plants, and then to produce to extend shelf life after harvest- and agribusiness operations, or other groups equivocate or ing, all without full understanding or acknowledgment of are silent (and therefore complicit) on issues that challenge its widely destructive effect. organic values, principles, and law, we have a duty to call it With this, we again call for, in our communities and in out. Whether it is support for “organic” hydroponics or USDA all policy reform efforts, the adoption of the precautionary eliminating the default sunsetting (removing) of synthetics principle, the implementation of organic practices and in organic production, we have a duty to call it out. We must products as the default in land and building management, protect the integrity of organic as the solution to pollution, and the end to this massive testing of pesticides on people as we confront the climate crisis and dramatic declines and the environment by the chemical industry. in biodiversity. EPA, in February, announced that it is reapproving the weed killer glyphosate/Roundup despite the evidence Local Action Leads the Way of threats of cancer and DNA damage. Same for the Meanwhile, the work to eliminate pesticide use in communities neonicotinoid insecticides that are indiscriminately killing is inspiring. In January, we testified before the Committee on pollinators, polluting waterways, and killing keystone aquatic Health in the New York City Council on legislation to remove species. Good science is no longer integral to federal and toxic pesticides from public parks and playing fields. We most state regulatory decisions, which rely on EPA. told the committee that, “[W]e need to eliminate hazardous materials, not with chemical-by-chemical bans, but with Approaching Reform with Alternatives a comprehensive program for land management that When we advance reform, we do not want to just tinker with adequately restricts all pesticides.” a failed risk assessment-based regulatory system—with scaled backed improvements to enforcement, taking a few bad pes- Got Science? ticides out of use, or improving mitigation measures for farm- Finally, this was reported in a January 1, 2020 front page worker and farmer protection in excessively dangerous work- New York Times piece, “A top panel of government-appointed ing conditions. We want to eliminate the use of these toxic scientists [Science Advisory Board], many of them handpicked materials, starting from the ground up. This means that we, by the Trump administration, said . .that three of President as a part of our decision making process—whether in a com- Trump’s most far-reaching and scrutinized proposals to munity or a federal law—must look at whole ecological and weaken major environmental regulations are biological systems, the range of interactions that are possible, at odds with established science.” and reject any harm. With alternatives available, there is no We are plowing ahead. reason to accept anything less. This may leave a very small Jay Feldman, opportunity for use in public health emergencies. Integral executive director of to reform, then, is an alternatives analysis at the time a Beyond Pesticides pesticide registered. ii PESTICIDES AND YOU • WINTER 2019–2020 www.BeyondPesticides.org CONTENTS Pesticides and You ©2020 (ISSN 0896-7253) is published four times a year by Beyond Pesticides. Beyond Pesticides, founded in 1981, is a voice for health and the environment, promoting protection from pesticides and safe alternatives; donations are tax-deductible. NatioNAL HEADQUARTERS © iStockphoto/Firstsignal 701 E Street, SE Washington DC 20003 ph: 202-543-5450 fx: 202-543-4791 email: [email protected] website: www.beyondpesticides.org page 12 Articles in this journal may be reproduced without Beyond Pesticides’ permission unless otherwise noted. Please credit Beyond Pesticides for reproduced material. Features BEYOND PESTICIDES STAFF 9 Pesticide Use Violates Human Rights Jay Feldman, Executive Director United Nations and others find adverse effects and global human rights violations Drew Toher, Community Resource and Policy Director 12 Highly Destructive Pesticide Effects Unregulated Barbara Dale, Marketing and Public Education Manager Widely used fungicide found to adversely affect enzyme common to all cells Autumn Ness, Hawai’i Organic Land Management Project Director 15 Supporting Life in the Soil—The Foundation of an Organic System Terry Shistar, PhD, Science Consultant Hydroponic production defies the foundational organic principle of “feed the soil, Jeff France, Office Manager and not the plant” Forum Coordinator Les Touart, PhD, Senior Science and Policy Manager 17 Cost Comparison: Organic vs Chemical Land Management Debra Simes, Editorial and Digital Support Gina Navarro, IPM in Health Care Facilities 18 Indaziflam: An Information for Action Factsheet Project Director Beware: Is this the Roundup weed killer alternative? Dawn Cacciotti, Program Strategy and Human Resource Management 22 Tracking Biodiversity: Burrowing Rodents— Gophers and Ground Squirrels PESTICIDES AND YOU Jay Feldman, Publisher, Editor DEPARTMENTS David Gerratt, NonprofitDesign.com, Design Terry Shistar, PhD, Debra Simes, 2 Mail Eric Sideman, PhD, Drew Toher, Barbara Dale, Contributors Are Buffer Zones Protection from Pesticide Drift; What Pesticides Are Most Concerning? BOARD OF DIRECTORS Routt Reigart, MD, President, Medical University 4 Washington DC of South Carolina, Charleston, SC Paula Dinerstein, Vice President, Public Employees Regulators Sit on Sidelines as Hazards Are Documented: Synthetic Pyrethroids Linked for Environmental Responsibility, Washington, DC to Cardiovascular Disease, Chemical Exposure Causes Decline in Children’s IQ, Terry Shistar, PhD, Secretary, Lawrence, KS Fluoride Effects in the Womb, Ecological Disaster; The End of Science in Regulatory Caroline Cox, Treasurer, Center for Environmental Health, Oakland, CA Decision Making; Scientific Critiques Challenge EPA’s Failure to Regulate Chip Osborne, At-large, Osborne Organics, Marblehead, MA 6 Around the Country Rella Abernathy, PhD, City of Boulder, Ecological Bird Population Decline Tied to Pesticides: Songbirds Threatened, Bird Habitat Planning Program, Boulder, CO Threatened in Arkansas; Studies Show Sustainability Only Achieved without Pesticides: Colehour Bondera, Kanalani Ohana Farm, Honaunau, HI Treated Seeds Offer No Benefit, Regenerative Agriculture Undermined by Pesticide Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides, Washington, DC Use, Synthetic Fertilizers Disrupt Carbon-Capturing Ability of Salt Marshes; Europe Melinda Hemmelgarn, RD, Food Sleuth, LLC, Moves Against Pesticides: Insecticide Chlorpyrifos Ban, Banning a Bee-Toxic Insecticide, Columbia, MO Warren Porter, PhD, University of Wisconsin, France Pulls Glyphosate; Malibu,