Perspective on Policy Strengths and Weaknesses

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Perspective on Policy Strengths and Weaknesses
Perspective on Policy Strengths and Weaknesses
Working Group on Pesticides in the Chesapeake
Waterways Maryland Pesticide Network Johns
Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Reisterstown
MD
Jay Feldman Beyond Pesticides May 14, 2007
Working Group on Pesticides in the Chesapeake
Waterways Maryland Pesticide Network Johns
Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Reisterstown
MD

• Jay Feldman
• Beyond Pesticides
• May 14, 2007

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Whats In A Pesticides?

• Active Ingredients are by nature biologically and
  chemically active against the target pest, be it
  an insect or fungus. By definition, these
  materials kill living things.
• Inert Ingredients are often as toxic as the
  active ingredient, although the law defines these
  materials as secret business information.
  Inerts, often petrochemicals, like benzene,
  toluene or xylene, generally make up the largest
  percentage of a pesticide formulation. Inerts are
  the solution, dust, or granule in which the
  active ingredient is mixed. Inerts generally make
  up the majority of the pesticide product
  formulation.
• Contaminants and impurities are often a part of
  the pesticide product and are responsible for the
  product hazards. Dioxins are contaminants in
  pentachlorophenol, created as a function of the
  production process.
• Metabolites, often more hazardous than the active
  ingredients, are breakdown products which form
  when the pesticide mixes with air, water, soil or
  living organisms.

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Health Impacts
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30 Commonly Used Lawn Chemicals
n 19 are likely, probable or possible
carcinogens n 13 are linked to birth defects n 21
are reproductive toxicants n 26 cause kidney or
liver damage n 27 are sensitizers/irritants
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Environmental Impacts
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30 Commonly Used Lawn Chemicals
n 16 are toxic to birds n 24 are toxic to fish
and other aquatic life n 11 are toxic to bees
n 17 are groundwater contaminants n 23 can leach
through soil
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Environmental Impacts
Aquatic microogranisms plants disrupts
foundation for aquatic ecosystems Amphibians
global decline, gender-bending Fish kills,
intersex other symptoms of endocrine disruption
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Registration of a PesticideFederal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1981
Registration of a Pesticide Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA),
1972 Unreasonable Adverse Effect Any
unreasonable risk to man or the environment,
taking into account the economic, social, and
environmental costs and benefits of the use of
any pesticide. FIFRA, Section 2 (bb)
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Registration of a PesticideFederal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1981
Registration of a Pesticide Food Quality
Protection Act (FIFRA), 1996 Reasonable
Certainty of No Harm Defined in the legislations
report language as a negligible risk of one in
a million people.
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Risk Assessment
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Registration of a PesticideFederal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 1981
Registration of a Pesticide Food Quality
Protection Act (FIFRA), 1996 Adds a few good
variables to risk assessment n Aggregate risk
(food water nondietary exposure) n Common
mechanism of toxicity and cumulative
risk n Extra margin of safety for children
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Complexities Not Addressed
n Mixtures n Synergistic effects n Inerts,
metabolites and contaminants n Endocrine
disruption n Assumes 100 compliance n Arbitrary
exposure assumptions n No monitoring of adverse
effects n Additional margin of safety sometimes
arbitrary n Uncertainties/limitation of risk
assessment not disclosed on products
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U.S. Geological Survey

• n Mixtures Found five or more pesticides in half
  of all stream samples and two or more in nearly a
  quarter of groundwater samples.
• n Ubiquitous At least one pesticide in all
  streams, over half of shallow wells, and a third
  of deep wells (aquifers) tested.
• n Food Chain Organochlor-ines in over 90 of
  fish tissue samples in agricultural, urban and
  mixed land uses.
• n Levels of Concern Currently established
  aquatic, wildlife and human benchmarks exceeded.

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Failures of the Regulatory System
n Only 47 of 83 pesticides detected by USGS have
established human benchmarks. n Of 76 pesticides
analyzed under the National Water Quality
Assessment, only 42 (and four degradation
chemicals) have set health criteria.
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Label Restrictions
Label Restrictions
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Label Restrictions
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Clean Water Act
n Establishes National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permit process
requiring permits for pesticide applications that
discharge directly into water. n Headwaters v.
Talent (2001) Upheld NPDES permitting
requirements. (2001) n EPA issues regulation
eliminating requirement for NPDES permit for
pesticide applications. (November 2006)
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Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA)

• Under FIFRA, EPA does not take into account
  unique local conditions when regulating risk and
  designing labels.
• Direct deposition of pesticides to water occurs
  even when the pesticide product label is properly
  followed.
• The risk assessment process used to register
  pesticides under FIFRA has acknowledged
  limitation that create the need for complementary
  laws.

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Safe Drinking Water Act
n Drinking water standards are not set for all
pesticides found in water. n EPA has established
maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for only 24
pesticides.
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Maryland Ground Water Quality
Source USGS Fact Sheet FS 2006-3119
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Conventional chemical-intensive
vs.
Organic
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Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down
such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the
earth without making it unfit for all life?
Rachel Carson