Recognition and Management of Health Problems Related to Pesticide Exposure Acute & Chronic Effects
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Recognition and Management of Health Problems Related to Pesticide Exposure Acute & Chronic Effects by Marion Moses, MD For further information contact: Virginia Ruiz Dr. Marion Moses Project Coordinator Pesticide Education Center Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. P.O. Box 225279 1010 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 915 San Francisco, CA 94142-5279 Washington, D.C. 20005 (ph) 415- 665-4722 (ph) 202-783-2628 (fax) 415-665-2693 (fax) 202-783-2561 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.pesticides.org Supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Office of Research Development and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration - Border Health Program Acute and Chronic Health Effects of Pesticide Exposures by Marion Moses M.D. Pesticide Education Center Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview ........................................ 1-6 History, Manufacturing , Registration, Labeling, Use. Chapter 2 Exposure ..................................................... 7-23 Formulations, Agricultural and Commercial Occupational Exposures Home and Garden Exposures, Drift, Biomonitoring Protective Clothing, Laundering Chapter 3 Acute Effects ................................................. 24-48 Acute Toxicity, Allergic Dermatitis, Systemic Poisoning, Asthma Chapter 4 Children and Pesticides ......................................... 49-63 Exposure, Biomonitoring. Acute Poisoning, Asthma, Cancer Chapter 5 Chronic Effects - Cancer in Adults . 64-83 Chapter 6 Chronic Effects - Reproductive System . 84-105 Spontaneous abortion, Stillbirth, Infertility, Sterility Reproductive Tissue Levels Pesticide Residues Chapter 7 Chronic effects -Neurological . 106-116 Nerve Conduction Velocity, EEG and Evoked Potentials, Vibrotactile thresholds, OPIDN, Parkinson’s Disease Appendicies A. Inert Ingredients in Current Products . 117 B. Pesticides Banned in the U.S. ...................................118 C. Organophosphate Dialkylphosphate Metabolites . 119 D. USEPA Acute Toxicity Categories . 120 E. Cholinesterase Testing .......................................121 F. Explanation of Tables .................................... 122-123 G. EPA Pesticide Carcinogenicity Classification . 124-125 H. Teratogenic Pesticides .........................................126 Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview Pesticides are toxic chemicals deliberately released into our environment to kill or harm living things. They can also kill or harm human beings. Pesticides are ubiquitous global contaminants of air, water, rain, snow, fog, soil, land and aquatic ecosystems, even the Arctic ice pack. Pesticide residues contaminate body fluids and tissues of living creatures all over the world, including newborn babies. History: Pests were considered as biblical type plaguesa until the French began using lime sulfur to control downy mildew on grapes in 1854. Chemical pest control began in the U.S. in 1867 with the use of Paris Green (copper-acetoarsenite) for control of the Colorado potato beetle. The discovery of Bordeaux mix (hydrated lime and copper sulfate) in 1880 led to the manufacture of metal based compounds for use in agriculture1. Aircraft were first used to spray crops in Europe in 1922, and in the U.S. in 1926b. Some Landmarks in Pest Control In 1939, the Swiss chemist Paul Muller discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT, for which he received the 1948 Nobel prize. The success of DDT in 1854 Use of lime sulfur as a averting typhus outbreaks during World War II made it the first war in fungicide on grapes in history in which more soldiers died of their wounds than of disease2. German France scientists experimenting with nerve-gas during World War II synthesized the 1867 Use of Paris Green against first organophosphate insecticide, parathion, marketed in 1943. The Dow the Colorado potato beetle in Chemical Company introduced the phenoxy herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T the U.S. (constituents of Agent Orange) in the 1940s. DDT came onto the U.S. market 1880 Discovery of Bordeaux mixture. in 1945 after the war embargo was lifted 1926 First use of aircraft to apply pesticides in the U.S.b Farmers saw insects and weeds that had been plagues for known human 1939 Discovery of insecticidal history, succumb to these miracle chemicals. DDT was promoted as “a boon properties of DDT to all mankind” (1946 advertisement in “Time” magazine). The World 1940s Marketing of DDT, parathion, Health Organization was so impressed with DDT’s effect on the anopheles 2,4-D, and 2,4,5-T. mosquito, it even thought (incorrectly) that the insecticide would eliminate 1947 Passage of FIFRA (Federal malaria by 1955. Chemicals dominated university research in entomology Insecticide, Fungicide, and and agronomy for decades. Agricultural chemical companies were the main Rodenticide Act). source of funds for the research and support of graduate students. 1962 Publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Resistance and Secondary Outbreaks: Two major problems were soon 1970 Creation of theEnvironmental apparent – resistance and secondary outbreaks. Not all pests were killed by the potent biocides. A very small number of survivors passed their resistance Protection Agency. on to future generations. Larger amounts of increasingly toxic combinations 1972 Authority for administration of of pesticides were needed to combat resistance. Over time many pests could FIFRA passed from USDA to not be controlled at all, beginning the search for the next generation of the EPA. chemicals. 1975 Passage of major amendments to FIFRA The other major problem was the broad spectrum of pesticide activity. They 1996 Passage of the Food Quality not only killed the “bad” insects, but also their natural predators, the “good” Protection Act amendments to ones. Insects that had been kept under control by natural predators for FIFRA. centuries became major pests themselves, resulting in severe secondary outbreaks requiring even more pesticides to control. The more pesticides were used, the more were needed, and use skyrocketed. This led to what a biocontrol expert called “the pesticide treadmill”3. Effects on Non-target Species: The new biocides caused many occupational, accidental, animal and wildlife poisonings and deaths, and widespread contamination of food, water, and the ecosystem. Concerns about potential human health and ecosystem impacts were countered by warnings from the agricultural chemical industry, farm interests, and Departments of Agriculture that mass starvation and untold deaths from disease would result if practices were changed. Agricultural production values dominated the debate in legislatures throughout the world. The toxic agricultural infrastructure, and the unecological monoculture that both fed and resulted from it, continued to expand. a The Spanish word for pesticide – plaguicida – reflects this. b Delta Airlines started as a company spraying arsenate insecticides on cotton for boll weevil control in the southern U.S.. Marion Moses M.D. Pesticide Education Center 1 Silent Spring: In 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring4 dramatically changed the way the world thought about pesticides. A wildlife biologist, Carson described the devastating ecological effects of DDT and related pesticides she called “elixirs of death”. She raised public awareness of the interdependence of all life-systems and concerns about potential human health effects. She was the birth mother of the environmental movement. Fallout from the book jolted legislators out of their torpor, and provided grist to the environmentalist mill that grinds to this day. Pesticide Regulation: In the 1970s, the first attempts to fix the more egregious deficiencies in pesticide law began. In 1972, authority for the regulation of pesticide production and use passed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Environmental Protection Figure 1 Agency (EPA) formed in 1970. In 1975, major amendments to FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act) required reevaluation by 1985 of all registered products then on the market. Studies of potential chronic effects, including cancer, birth defects, neurological damage, and genetic damage in laboratory animals became requirements for registration of pesticides. Hundreds of thousands of products remained on the market in scientific limbo, during a lengthy and often litigious process. The 1985 deadline was continually extended by Congress, and some pesticides registered before 1984 have still not yet been evaluated for chronic health effects. In 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) amendments to FIFRA and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) Figure 2 began another major reevaluation process. FQPA requires a reassessment of all food tolerances (the maximum amount of pesticide residues allowed on food), by replacing FIFRA’s cost-benefit analysis with a “reasonable certainty of no harm” standard. The EPA was required to take three additional steps to determine whether a pesticide met this new health-based standard: (1).Take into account aggregate exposure from food, water, and home and garden uses; (2). Add an additional ten-fold margin of safety (or higher if necessary), to protect infants and children; (3). Consider cumulative risks from all pesticides which have a common mechanism of activity; for example, organophosphates insecticides, which have the same basic mechanism of toxicity and biological activity5. To date 4,000 of the 9,721 tolerances requiring reassessment have been completed6. Pesticide Registration: All pesticides products must be