ARE SYNTHETIC PESTICIDES SABOTAGING OUR
CHILDRENS HEALTH, BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
by Steve Tvedten
It makes no sense to use poisons that do not even control
pests and are known to impair and/or destroy children's lives and their
ability to think and develop normally, in the very places that are mandated to
provide a safe learning and growing environment.
We've been bingeing on volatile synthetic pesticide poisons
far too long. It's time to get off the toxic merry-go-round. You and your
family deserve ZERO EXPOSURE to synthetic pesticide poisons.
Volatile, synthetic pesticide poisons are biologically
disruptive, basically untested, toxic chemicals, designed to kill. Many of our
most commonly used pesticide poisons are neurotoxins which were developed as
an outgrowth of poisonous nerve gas research, during World War II.
No one - not your pest control applicator, not the U. S.
Environmental Protection Agency - No one can guarantee your safety when you or
your loved ones are exposed to these volatile neurotoxins or poisons. Not
surprisingly then, there are approximately 10,000 diagnosed cases of pesticide
poisoning in the United States annually. And the World Health Organization
conservatively estimates that more than 25 million people are poisoned by
pesticide poisons, worldwide, each year, resulting in at least 20,000 deaths.
As Albert Schweitzer stated: "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and
forestall. He will end by destroying the earth."
Synthetic pesticide poisons are capable of disrupting the
normal functioning of every major organ system in the body, but the nervous
system is the most likely target. The nervous system consists of the brain,
the spinal cord and a vast array of nerves and sensory organs. It controls
most essential bodily functions like thought, movement, vision, hearing,
speech, heart function, respiration, mood, etc. And even minor changes in the
structure or function of this critical system can have profound, long-term
consequences.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
noted 12 million Americans have asthma today - a rise of 40% since 1982. In
1994, 5000 Americans died from asthma - 50 % more than in 1980! Young children
are much more vulnerable to the lethal effects of synthetic pesticide poisons,
than adults. In testimony before the U. S. Senate Committee on Pesticides in
1992, Herbert Needleman, M. D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and our
leading national expert on lead toxicity in children said:
"There is no question that pesticides impair children's
brain functions as insidiously as lead ... When the brain is developing, it
lays down connecting pathways. Introducing poisons, such as those contained in
pesticides, can fundamentally and irrevocably throw this critical neurological
development process off course."
Exposures to volatile synthetic pesticide poisons (even at
extremely low levels) are capable of accumulating in the fatty tissue of the
body and of causing malignancies and/or persistent over-stimulation of the
central nervous system and alterations in brain activity. The adipose tissue
(fat) acts as a biological magnifier - so that an intake of as little as 1
part per 10 million results in storage of 10 - 15 parts per million - an
increase of a 100 fold or more.
Children exposed to synthetic pesticide poisons will have
more ear infections, colds, bouts of pneumonia, asthma and flu and are likely
to become chemically hypersensitive. These children will often have difficulty
concentrating and will exhibit short-term memory loss, attention deficit
disorders, hyperactivity, mental confusion, forgetfulness, cognitive
impairments, difficulty interpreting the spoken or written word, headache,
depression, social withdrawal, blurred vision, seizures, skin irritations,
behavioral and emotional problems, anxiety, dizziness, lack of coordination,
muscle cramps, muscle tremors, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, urinary frequency
and incontinence, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue, numbness of the hands
and feet, aggressive and violent behavior, and respiratory disorders.
Some pesticide-poisoned youngsters will develop chronic,
life-long health problems that manifest in reproductive problems (sterility,
infertility, birth defects) and degenerative diseases (mental retardation,
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS). Several recent studies have reported on a
relationship between childhood pesticide exposure and an increased incidence
of brain cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, leukemia and
immune system suppression.
Research has shown that when patients' blood pesticide
levels were reduced by an amount as tiny as one-tenth of a part per billion,
they had I. Q. improvements of between five and fifteen points.
One of the synthetic pesticide poisons, an organophosphate
most commonly used in schools, Dursban, has a half-life greater than 30 days.
Organophosphates have the ability to destroy enzymes (e.g., a protective
enzyme called cholinesterase) - that perform vital body functions.
Organophosphates attack the nervous system in man and insect alike - I have
often noted pest control operators drinking copious amounts of wine and beer
and craving pizza - in a sub-conscious attempt to replace their lost enzymes.
In 1992, an Israeli study documented many pesticide related
illness' and that organophosphate metabolites are excreted for 4 months after
a typical one-time application for cockroach control. In this way, a classroom
or home can become a continuing reservoir of constant volatile synthetic
pesticide poison exposure, long after the poison application appears to have
dried. The various pesticide vapors build up into an invisible, odorless,
toxic chemical soup, that is capable of causing a cascade of toxic reactions,
for years to come.
The California Department of Health Services made an
estimate of the amount of chlorpyrifos to which a child would be exposed, one
day after an indoor application. The estimate was based on the amount that the
child would breathe, added to the amount the child would absorb through the
skin. The estimate was over 1700 times the acceptable daily intake established
by the World Health Organization. In addition to the known individual
organophosphate dangers there is an exponential increase in danger when
several toxins are combined.
In the 50's a team of Food and Drug Administration
scientists determined that when malathion exposure is combined with another
organophosphate (or plasticizing agent) exposure the exponential increase in
toxicity may be 50 times as severe - as Rachel Carson noted: Only 1/100 of the
lethal dose of each compound may be fatal when the two are combined! What if
several more are combined?
The headlines in many newspapers 6/7/96 noted a Tulane
University study published in Science shows the pesticide threat already
linked to breast and testicular cancers, lower sperm counts and male birth
defects may increase 1,000-fold the possibility of damage to humans and
wildlife when paired with other pollutants than when contaminating alone. This
is quite easily understood when you think about ammonia by itself or chlorine
bleach by itself; either is not very dangerous, but combine the two and you
create terrible danger and even death!
Recent research at Duke University noted the Gulf-War
Syndrome may have been caused by three ordinarily harmless doses of chemicals
that, when combined, produced significant neurological damage, research on
chickens suggests. The soldiers took anti-nerve gas pills that may have
limited their bodies' ability to withstand certain synthetic pesticide poisons
that were applied to their skin and clothes. According to government reports,
the number of veterans who claim they may be ill as a result of their service
in the Gulf War in Iraq in 1991 passed 108,000 in early 1996. Unlike insects
which quickly develop resistance to these toxins - man, his pets, livestock
and wild animals, birds and fish do not.
Sperm counts in men are now half what they were in their
grandfathers! 1 out of every 7 Americans is significantly impaired from toxic
exposure and 1 out of every 2.5 of us will now get cancer!
The aerial drift of one droplet of pesticide, on a calm day,
was reported to drift 24 miles. On a windy day, it has been traced halfway
around the globe. In spite of the fact we have contaminated the globe, our
air, water, food and ourselves with trillions of tons of these deadly
neurotoxins and carcinogens, we still have not controlled, much eliminated,
the pests we are trying to treat.
According to the FBI and Labor Statistics, twice as many
deaths result form corporate contamination and/or pollution as from violent
crime and car accidents combined! One study by the California Department of
Public Health in 1995 revealed a 1-in-5 prevalence of chemical sensitivity;
this is a higher rate than asthma, breast or prostate cancer and HIV combined!
Continued corporate contamination is genocide!
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered
why synthetic pesticide poisons triple the rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
They found a high rate of chromosomal breakage (fractures of the 24th and 18th
chromonosomes) in farmers who apply these toxins to crops.
A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia (9/95)
found a higher-than-average incidence of synthetic pesticide poisons in
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients. Substantiated levels of
organochlorine pesticides, including the insecticide DDT and fungicide
hexachlorobezen (HCB), were found in people with no known exposure to toxic
chemicals. The study, conducted by Newcastle University, measured HCB in about
45% of CFS patients compared to 21% in other people without CFS.
Given this barrage of sobering statistics, why would
intelligent and caring people, intentionally and regularly saturate their
schools, homes, workplaces and lawns with these toxic poisons?
It makes no sense to use poisons that do not even control
pests and are known to impair and/or destroy children's lives and their
ability to think and develop normally, in the very places that are mandated to
provide a safe learning and growing environment. We've been bingeing on
volatile synthetic pesticide poisons far too long. It's time to get off the
toxic merry-go-round. You and your family deserve ZERO EXPOSURE to synthetic
pesticide poisons.
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