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Reasons to Have a Smart Yard
Links between Pesticides and Cancer:
- Weed killers such as 2,4-D have been linked to rising rates of lymphoma in
75 of 99 human studies, according to the National Lymphoma Society.
- Women who used chemical lawn services had higher rates of breast cancer,
according to a Massachusetts study.
- Children have been found to be 6 times more likely to have leukemia if
their parents used garden pesticide and herbicides once a month or more,
according to a Los Angeles study.
- Over the long term, several types of cancer (plus a range of other serious
health problems including damage to nervous systems, birth defects and
infertility) have been associated with exposure to common lawn care products.
- Research has shown that people who are exposed to pesticides commonly used
to improve the appearance of lawns and outdoor settings have a higher risk of
developing leukemia, brain tumors, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,
Hodgkin’s lymphoma and soft tissue sarcomas.
- Runoff from lawns treated with pesticides can contaminate watersheds or
your neighbors’ property.
- Pesticides are regulated and evaluated for human safety. But this testing
does not occur over a long enough time period to determine carcinogenicity
before the product becomes permitted for sale.
Because cancers triggered
by pesticide exposure may not develop until many years or even decades later,
it is difficult to determine whether or not pesticides currently on the market
are carcinogenic.
- A study published in the journal Cancer in 2000 found that children who
have been exposed to household insecticides and professional extermination
methods within the home are three to seven times more likely to develop
non-Hodgkin lymphoma compared with children who have not been exposed to
pesticides.
- Only a few of the thousands of chemicals in everyday use have been
adequately tested for their impact on health and the environment.
- Researchers have found that people with high levels of pesticides and
chemicals known as PCBs in their bloodstreams are far more likely to develop
genetic mutations linked with cancer of the pancreas.
- In the 1960s, the World Health Organization concluded that the
environment, not heredity, played the predominant role in causing cancer. Even
if you are genetically predisposed for certain types of cancer, they will not
develop unless they are "triggered" by environmental factors. Many
pesticides are probably among these triggers.
- Some evidence indicates women who have breast cancer have 50 to 60 percent
higher levels of organochlorines (a type of pesticide) in tissues than women
without breast cancer.
- Children are more vulnerable to the carcinogenic effects of pesticides
because their bodies are still developing. Malignancies in children linked to
pesticides in case reports or case-control studies include leukemia,
neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumor, soft-tissue sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma,
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancers of the brain, colorectum, and testes, said
a report published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 1998.
- The amount of pesticides per treated acre of household lands is almost five
times the application rate for treated agricultural lands.
- The majority of most children's exposure to pesticides is from home, lawn,
and garden use of pesticides.
- Dogs playing on lawns treated with 2,4-D still had measurable levels of it
in their urine several days after application.
- In a 2004 study by Purdue University researchers, Scottish terriers were
found to be more than four times more likely to develop bladder cancer if they
were exposed to lawn chemicals. Only about 30 percent of human bladder cancers
are due to known causes – it’s possible pesticide exposure makes up a good
portion of the "unknown" causes.
- Warnings about potential long-term or chronic health effects are not
required to be on the labels of lawn and garden pesticides.
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified at least 10
pesticides as known, probable or possible carcinogens.
- The American Medical Association stated in 1998 that "the human health
effects of pesticides, especially chronic effects, have not been adequately
characterized."
- In 2001, more than $2 billion was spent in the U.S. on home and garden
pesticides, according to the EPA. 78 million U.S. households used pesticides
in 2000/2001. (out of ~110 million total households)
Sources
Other things to condsider:
- How many pesticides does the EPA classify as carcinogenic or possible
carcinogens? For how many are their long-term health effects
"unknown"?
- How much lawn pesticides are used in the U.S. in pounds per year?
Lists of carcinogenic pesticides:
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