“HEALTH-B-GONE” AND OTHER HOMEOWNER PESTICIDE PROBLEMS
Is it Safe to Use Weedkillers and Bug Killers Where Kids and Pets Live?

One of the oddest things we've seen in our neighborhood is a yard that had two signs: One said "Caution, Children Playing"; the other said "Caution, Pesticides Recently Applied." We failed to find a third sign saying "Caution, Schizophrenic on the Loose," but the contradiction was clear enough.

The insecticide malathion and herbicides like "2,4-D" and glyphosate (a.k.a. Roundup) are widely used by homeowners and insistently claimed to be safe by the pesticide industry. Many people use these chemicals on their lawns and around the house where children and pets play, and some municipalities blanket-spray malathion from airplanes, ostensibly to control pests such as gypsy moths or mosquitoes.

Are these two pesticides truly safe? In 2003, the Canadian province of Quebec adopted a stringent "Pesticide Management Code" that, among other things:

• prohibited the use of synthetic pesticides in all daycare facilities and schools;
• banned the use of cosmetic pesticides on all public land; and
• banned 23 pesticides that are known or possible carcinogens or endocrine (hormone) disruptors.

Malathion and 2,4-D both fall into the last category. The herbicide 2,4-D also falls into the category of "cosmetic pesticide" since its primary non-agricultural purpose is to control weeds considered unsightly by property owners. The US EPA notes that malathion depresses levels of the important nerve enzyme cholinesterase and classifies the chemical as a probable carcinogen. A study also found that use of 2,4-D on lawns tripled the risk of a dog at the residence contracting some types of cancer.

In addition to being a danger to people and pets, some portion of an applied pesticide always finds its way via rainwater runoff into local streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater. The amount of contamination from your individual yard may not be much, but when you add it up across all the pesticide-treated lawns in a given area, it's a significant problem.

Some folks will likely choose to continue using pesticide products around the home until they have been shown beyond any doubt to be unsafe. But pulling up a few weeds by hand, planting marigolds near the garden to dissuade pests, or trying some of the available non-toxic pesticide alternatives is the approach the Grinning Planet team is trying. And we're keeping an eye on the sky for any government plane spraying a strange mist and trailing a banner that says "trust us"...

Pest control resources—natural/alternative methods:

• Tips from Pesticide Action Network North America
• Tips from the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides

Publish date: 18-MAR-2004

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"Men are naturally most impressed by diseases which have obvious manifestations, yet some of their worst enemies creep on them unobtrusively."

— Dr. René Dubos