Volume 22, Number 1 Spring 2002 Pesticides and You News from Beyond Pesticides / National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP) Streams to Schools: Finding Alternatives to Pesticides Pesticides Threaten Salmon • Help Eliminate Dangerous Wood Preservatives • The Schooling of State Pesticide Laws – 2002 Update • Schools Save Money With lntegrated Pest Management • Taking the Terror Out of Termites Letter from Washington All Hazardous Wood Preservatives Should Be Banned Deal With Wood Preserving lndustry A Good Start, But Not Good Enough hemical or pressure-treated wood, imbued with some steel for utility poles, the regulatory agencies have been watch- of the most hazardous materials known to humankind, ing the toxic wood industry grow. Chas become so commonplace that most people would never have imagined the risks it poses to human health and the Healthy Risks Keep Mounting environment. As the wood with its chemical constituents comes Meanwhile, the data on exposure to serious health risks keep under increasing fire, EPA announced on February 12, 2002 mounting. The U.S. National Research Council has determined that manufacturers will initiate a two-year voluntary phase-out that consuming arsenic at the previous U.S. drinking water stan- of the residential uses of the wood preservative, chromated cop- dard of 100 micrograms per person per day creates a cancer risk per arsenic (CCA). This is certainly progress. But the risk and of between one additional case in 100 and one in 1,000. Univer- exposure data, accumulated over decades, supports a complete sity of Miami studies find that children receive doses of arsenic and immediate halt to the sale and use of all tainted wood and a as high as 1,260 micrograms from hand to mouth contact with clean-up and disposal program to prevent future harm. That is CCA-treated wood. An average five-year-old playing on an ar- why over a dozen U.S.-based environmental and health organi- senic-treated play set for less than two weeks would “exceed the zations, led by Beyond Pesticides, citing safer alternatives, peti- lifetime cancer risk acceptable under federal pesticide law,” ac- tioned EPA in December to suspend immediately the most haz- cording to a 2001 report published in Environmental Health Per- ardous wood preservatives, including CCA, pentachlorophenol spectives. A 1992 report prepared for Health and Welfare Canada (penta) and creosote. concludes, “on all sampling occasions, there was significant leach- ing of copper, chromium and arsenic,” exceeding normal back- Wood Preservatives: Higher Volume Pesticides ground levels by 24 times for arsenic and 16 times for chromium. It is estimated that the voluntary industry phase–out of resi- Similar data have been collected for penta-treated utility poles. dential CCA affects a small fraction, approximately 5 percent, Penta and its contaminant dioxins, hexachlorobenzene, and of the highly toxic wood preservative market overall. That 5 furans are classified by the United Nations Environment percent treats most of the greenish looking pressure-treated Programme (UNEP) as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and wood available to consumers. All CCA use, including indus- slated for elimination. In fact, 26 countries have already banned trial uses such as utility poles, accounts for approximately 10 penta. These chemicals are also known disruptors of the endo- percent of the total wood preservative market. According to crine system, causing adverse effects to sexual development, the American Wood Preservatives Institute’s 1995 statistical infertility, and menstrual disorders. A preliminary risk assess- report, 1.6 billion pounds of wood preservatives are used to ment by EPA found that children exposed to the soil around treat wood, including 138 million pounds of CCA, 656 mil- utility poles treated with penta face a risk of contracting cancer lion pounds of penta and 825 million pounds of creosote. More 220 times higher than EPA’s “acceptable” level. Environment recent data puts the volume of creosote at 1.1 billion pounds, Canada found highly elevated levels of penta in utility and rail- mostly to treat railroad ties. The vast majority of wood pre- way ditches in two British Columbia studies. serving arsenic, penta and creosote, used in a broad array of EPA has a history of striking agreements with pesticide manu- products from utility poles to railroad ties, are not affected by facturers and users that are narrow in scope and allow for long- the recent announcement. phase-out periods without notices and warnings to the public You only need to glance across the rural, suburban or ur- about hazards during those time frames. This deal does not ad- ban landscape to see this wood, used for playground equip- dress the issue of disposal, as much of this wood comes out of ment, utility poles, railroad ties, porches and decks, garden- service in the next decade and will ing beds and borders, and more. In 1978, EPA identified wood end up in municipal landfills rather preservatives as effecting an extraordinarily high risk for can- than lined toxic waste facilities, cer, genetic damage, birth defects, and fetotoxicity and put where it should be. As a result of the the chemicals into a “special review.” While most non-wood deal, EPA may discontinue its new and some wood uses were cancelled in the 1980’s, wood pre- risk assessment, making it more dif- servatives remain on the market today because of a two-de- ficult for victims to sue. It is well cade-old finding “of non-substitutability of the wood preser- passed time to act, and to act com- vative compounds and the lack of acceptable non-wood or prehensively. other chemical alternatives for many use situations . .” That was 21 years ago. Despite the availability of alternative mate- —Jay Feldman, executive director rials today, such as recycled plastic for lumber and recycled of Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP Contents Contents 2 Mail Pesticides and You ©2002 (ISSN 0896- Poisoned Play-Set, Trouble with Mice, Mom 7253), published 4 times a year by Wins Award for Activism Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), is a voice for pesticide safety and alterna- tives. Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP is a non- 4 Washington, DC profit, tax-exempt membership organiza- Groups Petition EPA to Ban Hazardous Wood tion; donations are tax-deductible. Preservatives; EPA Announces Wood Preserva- National Headquarters: tive Phase-out, Environmentalists Want a Full 701 E Street, SE, Ban; SEPA Passes the Senate…Again; United Washington DC 20003 ph: 202-543-5450 fx: 202-543-4791 Nations Calls U.S. Exports of Banned Pesticides email: [email protected] “lmmoral;” EPA Wonders if Pesticides Should website: www.beyondpesticides.org Printed on recycled paper with soy ink page 2 Be Tested on Humans; EPA No Longer Requires “Caution” for Class IV Pesticides Articles in this newsletter may be reproduced without Beyond Pesticides/ NCAMP’s permission unless otherwise noted. Please credit Beyond Pesticides/ 6 Around the Country NCAMP for reproduced material. Pesticides Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syn- BEYOND PESTICIDES/NCAMP STAFF drome; Organic Farmers Fight Back; Environ- Jay Feldman, Executive Director mental Groups Sue EPA for Bird Deaths; Resi- Kagan Owens, Program Director dents Concerned About West Nile Virus Pes- Toni Nunes, Special Projects Director John Kepner, Program Associate ticides Making Headway in Long lsland; ldaho Terry Shistar, Ph.D., Science Consultant Farmers Living the Organic Life; Pesticide Becky Crouse, Public Education Coordinator Meghan Taylor, Public Education Associate Found in “Organic” Flour from Australia, U.S. Flour OK; Genetically Modified Super-Weeds PESTICIDES AND YOU Jay Feldman, Publisher, Editor lnvade Canada; Fire Prevention Not Free Pass Eric Cline, Cover Art to Spray Herbicides, Says CA Judge Kagan Owens, Editor Meghan Taylor, Illustrator page 8 Free Hand Press, Typesetting 9 Pesticides Threaten Salmon Becky Crouse, Jay Feldman, John Kepner, Pollyanna Lind, Kagan Owens, Toni By Pollyanna Lind Nunes, Meghan Taylor, Contributors BEYOND PESTICIDES/NCAMP BOARD 11 Help Eliminate Dangerous Wood OF DIRECTORS Ruth Berlin, LCSW-C, Maryland Pesticide Preservatives Network, Annapolis, MD Laura Caballero, Lideres Campesinas en California, Greenfield, CA 14 The Schooling of State Pesticide Alan Cohen, Bio-Logical Pest Management, Washington, DC Laws – 2002 Update Shelley Davis, Farmworker Justice Fund, A review of state pesticide laws regarding schools Washington, DC Lorna Donaldson-McMahon, Donaldson- By Kagan Owens and Jay Feldman McMahon Family Farm, Tiptonville, TN Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP, Washington, DC 18 Schools Save Money With Tessa Hill, Kids for Saving Earth World- wide, Plymouth, MN page 20 lntegrated Pest Management Lani Lamming, Ecological Services, A Beyond Pesticides Fact Sheet Alpine, WY Nina Powers, Sarasota County Public Works, Sarasota, FL Paul Repetto, Horizon Organic Dairy 20 Taking the Terror Out of Termites Boulder, CO By Becky Crouse Terry Shistar, Ph.D., Kansas Chapter, Sierra Club, Lawrence, KS Gregg Small, Washington Toxics 24 Resources Coalition, Seattle, WA Allen Spalt, Agricultural Resources Printed with soy-based inks on The State of Children’s Health and Environ- Center, Carrboro, NC Ecoprint Offset, and cover on ment 2002: Common Sense Solutions for Par- Audrey Thier, Environmental Advocates, Quest™, both 100% post- Albany, NY consumer waste and processed ents and Policymakers; DEET and Permethrin: Affiliations shown for informational purposes only chlorine free. A Dangerous Combination Vol. 22, No. 1, 2002 Pesticides and You Page 1 Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides Mail Trouble with Mice The use of traps is an effective alterna- out of your home. First, block off all entry tive. If you purchase snap traps, be sure to points they might use to access your home. Dear Beyond Pesticides, find one with a sensitive trigger to increase Keep in mind that mice can fit through a hole We have discovered field mice in our success. Place them in your house without trig- the size of a dime.