Fluoride and Fluorinated
Pesticides in the News
 
 
Pesticides in the News began August 10, 2004.

December 4, 2007 Fipronil

Hawaii's Agriculture Department says bees poisoned by fipronil in Moloa'a, Kauai. . By Rachel Gehrlein. Kauai Garden Island News.
... They said the highest level of pesticide was in the honey,” said Jaylen Lane, Sage’s mother. “The second highest level was in the pollen. The dead bees on the inside had the third highest level while the bees on the outside had the fourth highest. The outside of the hive had the lowest level.” ..

May 28, 2007 Fipronil Possible culprit identified in decline of honeybees. The Star-Ledger (NJ)
... In sublethal doses, however, research has shown that imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids, such as fipronil, can impair honeybees' memory and learning, as well as their motor activity and navigation. When foraging for food and collecting nectar, honeybees memorize the smells of flowers and create a kind of olfactory map for subsequent trips... The possibility that neonicotinoids are at the heart of the bee die-off implies a far more complex problem because of the widespread use of pesticides. Every year these chemicals are applied to hundreds of millions of acres of agricultural lands, gardens, golf courses and public and private lawns across the United States. Their use on major crops nearly tripled between 1964 and 1982, from 233 million pounds to 612 million pounds of active ingredients. And since then, their use has exploded. By 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported 5 billion pounds of pesticides used on U.S. crops, forests, lawns, flowers, homes and buildings...
February 2007 Sulfuryl fluoride Vikane®

According to PANNA: Newport Beach residents fight pesticide fumigation: Residents of Newport North Townhomes (Newport Beach, CA) have threatened to recall four of their homeowner's association board members if they follow through with plans to use the fumigant pesticide Vikane (Dow AgroSciences' brand of sulfuryl fluoride). Vikane is considered a health hazard especially for small children, pregnant women, and people with respiratory illnesses, and is marketed heavily by Dow for termite eradication. One homeowner alarmed over the Vikane plan is Cindy Dupuie, who told the Daily Pilot newspaper, "You know, you're messing with people's health, and not only do you introduce chemicals into each individual dwelling, you're also exposed to airborne chemicals and toxins for the entire six weeks it will take them to fumigate the complex…. We would like them to reconsider other methods because there's a lot of concern, and they refused to listen." Dr. Susan Kegley, senior scientist for Pesticide Action Network, says. "Symptoms of exposure to Vikane include stinging eyes as well as nose, throat, and lung irritation. Exposure can cause fluid to collect in the lungs, a complication that can lead to serious respiratory illness. Other effects include nausea and vomiting, as well as neurological symptoms such as slurred speech, slowed gait, weakness, irritability, numbness, tremors, and seizures. Chronic neurotoxic effects observed in fumigant applicators include tremors, inability to concentrate, and reduction in cognitive skills. There are several reported poisonings in California where people have died after trying to enter a tarped house while it is fumigated, and even one reported death when the house had been approved for re-entry." Read more about Vikane.

February 2007 Dow Chemical

Dow chemical fined for bribery over Indian pesticide regulation: Dow Chemical has been ordered to stop violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a settlement made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that included a $325,000 civil penalty. Dow was charged with making improper payments to Indian government officials in charge of approving pesticides. Dow Jones Newswire reports, "The SEC found that, from 1996 through 2001, Dow Chemical's DE-Nocil Crop Protection Ltd. unit paid an estimated $200,000 in improper payments and gifts to Indian state and federal officials as it sought to register several products slated for marketing in time for India's growing season. The SEC said these payments weren't adequately reflected in Dow Chemical's books and records, and that the company's system of internal controls failed to prevent the payments." The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) interviewed survivors of the 1984 Bhopal, India disaster, where an explosion at a Union Carbide pesticide plant killed thousands and made many more sick. Dow has since acquired Union Carbide. Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) told the IANS, "According to SEC records, one senior official in the Central Insecticides Board received $39,700 (Rs.1.6 million) for registering Dow's pesticides in India between 1996 and 2001 while other state officials received the remaining amount for facilitating distribution and sale of Dow's pesticides." Bhopal disaster survivor and Goldman Environmental Award prize winner Rashida Bee stated that "The bribes to senior officials are merely the tip of the iceberg. We find even the prime minister's office turning a blind eye to the ongoing crimes of the Union Carbide and Dow Chemical and offering special privileges for expansion of the latter's business in this country."
•• see SEC report
and SEC Order

The payments resulted in the expedited registration of three DE-Nocil products: “Pride (NI-25),” “Nurelle-D,” and “Dursban 10G,” products which used active ingredients that were widely used, and registered by Dow or other pesticide manufacturers, in other countries, including the United States. As a result of the expedited registrations, Dow estimated that DE-Nocil generated $435,000 in direct operating margin from the accelerated sales of these products, 75.7% (or $329,295) of which, based on Dow’s ownership interest, went to Dow.
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2007/34-55281.pdf

Dow to US watchdog: we bribed Indian officials for clearances
THE BRIBE BREAK-UP
Money to register its products $39,700
State-level agriculture inspectors $87,400
Gifts, travel and entertainment $37,000
Government officials $19,000
Sales tax officials $11,800
Excise tax officials $3,700
Custom officials $1,500

August 7, 2006 Sulfuryl fluoride ProFume®

NYS Attorney General supports revocation of all food tolerances of Dow AgroSciences fumigant sulfuryl fluoride.
FAN Press Release

On August 4, the Office of NYS Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, submitted comments to the US EPA in support of the revocation of the use of Dow AgroSciences food fumigant sulfuryl fluoride (ProFume®). Their comments included:

“… EPA’s decision to establish food residue tolerances for sulfuryl fluoride suffers from a number of serious legal, scientific and logical flaws… The tolerances fail to meet the requirements or intent of the FQPA [Food Quality Protection Act] to establish tolerances that protect the health of infants and children.”

See NYS AG's comments

July 7, 2006 Sulfuryl fluoride ProFume®

Sulfuryl fluoride: EPA soliciting public comments for submission on or before August 4.
Action Alert from Beyond Pesticides

Public Comments Needed by August 4, 2006: Stop Sulfuryl Fluoride Use.
Responding to a petition from groups asking EPA to prohibit the use of sulfuryl fluoride in food production, the agency opened a public comment period, announced in the Federal Register (71 FR 38125), on July 5, 2006 for 30 days (ending August 4, 2006). Petitioners assert that the regulations setting fluoride tolerances (thus allowing fluoride residues) for food are seriously flawed. The petitioners say that EPA proceeded superficially, inadequately, and thus in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), when the agency failed to evaluate, in the thorough and detailed manner required by law, the exposures and risks associated with the establishment of tolerances for pesticide chemical residues of sulfuryl fluoride and fluoride anion...

April 7, 2006 TFM

River poisoning intentional, meant to kill lamprey. By John C. Kuehner, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio.

Harpersfield Township -- Federal wildlife officials released 500 gallons of a poison into the Grand River Thursday, to suffocate a fish-killing parasite that is right out of a nightmare... Six teams in canoes prowled the river, collecting fish and amphibians that were unintended casualties. The data will be collected through today, when the chemical makes its way 31 miles from Harpersfield Township in Ashtabula County to Lake Erie in Fairport Harbor. Depending on the weather, the poison will be put in Conneaut Creek starting Saturday. The project will cost more than $300,000...This is the fourth time since 1987 that the wildlife service has treated the Grand River. These are the only two waterways in Ohio that are treated for lamprey, a native of the Atlantic Ocean...

March 25, 2006 Sulfuryl fluoride Vikane®

Fire in fumigated building prompts 300 to evacuate. By Pauline Repard. The San Diego Union Tribune (Calif.).

More than 300 people were evacuated from their homes last night when a three-alarm fire broke out in a D Avenue apartment building filled with fumigation chemicals... Condon said he did not know if tenants of the complex had relocated before the fumigation process began. Firefighters arrived to see flames coming through the roof. “As we peeled away the tent, we got more active flames,” Condon said. “Our concern was for the Vikane in the smoke,” he said. The thick column of smoke rose straight up into the still night air.

March 22, 2006 Sulfuryl fluoride ProFume®

The problem with ProFume. By Francesca Camillo. San Antonio Current (Texas).

... Although the EPA says it’s safe, fluoride activists believe that ProFume, a pesticide used to keep rodents and insects out of food-storage facilities, warehouses, and shipping containers, may contain levels of fluoride dangerous to humans. Elevated fluoride levels have been linked to reduced cognitive ability, pineal gland imbalance, and tooth decay.... Luddene Perry, author of A Field Guide to Buying Organic and an accredited organic inspector, said that much organic food is processed conventionally, so while crops may be grown organically they may be stored with conventionally grown crops that will be fumigated...

Jan 23, 2006

Diflubenzuron
Norflurazon
Oxyfluorfen
Trifluralin

4 of 66 pesticides cited

Note:
Chloropicrin was also cited. One of its uses is as a "Warning Agent (odor)" in Vikane® (sulfuryl fluoride)

Conservation Group Moves for Court Order Restricting Use of 66 Pesticides in Core Red-Legged Frog Habitat.
San Francisco, Calif. – The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in a legal motion today asked a U.S. District Court to protect the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) from 66 of the most toxic and persistent pesticides authorized for use in California, by creating pesticide-free buffer zones around the frog’s core habitat and by requiring consumer hazard warnings so that all Californians may learn how to protect frogs.
In response to a lawsuit filed by CBD against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April of 2002, the District Court found in September of 2005 that the EPA violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by registering pesticides for use without considering how they might impact the continued existence of the red-legged frog. The motion for “injunctive relief” delivered today asks the court to protect the frog from pesticides in or adjacent to aquatic frog habitat designated as core recovery areas, until the EPA completes a formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on the impacts of the pesticides on red-legged frogs, as required under the ESA... CBD is asking the Court to impose a three-year schedule for the EPA to determine whether the 66 pesticides may affect the red-legged frog and to complete formal consultations with USFWS to ensure the pesticides are not jeopardizing the frog or contributing to its decline. To minimize harm to frogs during the consultation process, the motion asks for an injunction on use of the pesticides around aquatic features and upland habitats within the frog’s core recovery areas, as designated by USFWS in the agency’s Recovery Plan for the California Red-legged Frog. This injunction would also apply buffer areas for terrestrial and aerial pesticide applications, affecting approximately 7 percent of the current range of the frog and less than 1 percent of the area of California. CBD is also requesting that the EPA conduct monitoring for pesticides in three of the recovery areas to determine whether the buffers are effectively protecting the frog, inform pesticide users about the injunction, and post point-of-sale notifications warning consumers about harmful effects these pesticides may have on the frog...
Jan 20, 2006 Sulfuryl fluroide
- ProFume -

Dispute Over Methyl Bromide Alternative Prompts Debate On Fluoride. By Manu Raju. Inside EPA.
Read full report.

Excerpts: EPA’s approval of a fluoride-based alternative to the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide is triggering a broader fight over agency data justifying the use of fluoride to treat drinking water and combat pests -- a dispute that could be heavily influenced by a major new scientific report expected in the coming weeks...

The dispute centers on EPA’s effort to support dual uses of fluoride as an alternative to methyl bromide and as a drinking water additive used to prevent tooth decay. As part of the treaty’s implementation, EPA is allowing a type of fluoride to be used instead of methyl bromide to eradicate rodents, insects and other pests when fumigating non-residential structures, restaurants, rail cars and trucks. EPA has also approved the substance’s use on more than 40 types of food.

At the same time, state and local governments authorize the use of fluoride to treat drinking water, which the dental industry supports as a safe and effective way to prevent tooth decay. But some scientists, environmentalists and union officials, who represent EPA staff, say a growing body of evidence of bone pathologies, nerve damage and thyroid suppression from fluoride exposure should lead EPA to impose tighter restrictions on its use.

The National Academy of Sciences, at the request of EPA, is expected in February to issue an authoritative report on drinking water fluoridation, the first by the academy on the topic in over a decade. The study will examine whether current drinking water standards for fluoride are adequate in light of new scientific data published since the academy’s last review in 1993. The findings could lead to a new debate over the data EPA cited to justify the use of fluoride as a methyl bromide alternative and in the treatment of drinking water.

Specifically, environmentalists dispute the scientific basis of EPA’s 2004 approval of the pesticide sulfuryl fluoride, which is manufactured by Dow AgroSciences, LLC, claiming the agency used a flawed risk assessment that violates the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). The groups Fluoride Action Network, Beyond Pesticides and Environmental Working Group (EWG) are now challenging the decision through administrative means, which an EWG source says eventually could lead to litigation. The activists allege that EPA ignored data on the risks of sulfuryl fluoride because the agency did not want to undermine its threshold limits on fluoridation of drinking water...

Jan 12, 2006 Fluoride
in Animal Feed

EU RAPID ALERT SYSTEM FOR FOOD AND FEED
Alert Notification for FEED
DATE: 12/01/2006
NOTIFIED BY: France
REF: 2006.0033
REASON FOR NOTIFYING: too high content of fluoride in monocalcium phosphate
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France

Note: For information on MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE

Jan 9, 2006 Sulfuryl fluroide
- ProFume -

Press Release from FAN Pesticide Project:
NYS approves pesticide despite unresolved health risks.
Dec 21, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- ProFume -
New food pesticide dangerous for all Americans, three environmental groups warn. FAN Press Release. December 21, 2005.
... A December 16th submission to EPA by FAN, the Environmental Working Group and Beyond Pesticides, sets the basis for EPA to revoke the use of sulfuryl fluoride. For this to happen, EPA has to grant an evidentiary hearing. EPA requested the groups to refine the issues for a hearing. The December submission is in response to EPA’s request. If the hearing is granted, it will be the first time a pesticide tolerance has its day in court...
Dec 16, 2005

Sodium Fluoroacetate

also known as

Compound 1080

US Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) introduced a bill (H.R. 4567), known as the `Sodium Fluoroacetate Elimination Act' that would prohibit the "manufacture, processing, possession, or distribution in commerce of the poison sodium fluoroacetate (known as Compound 1080) to provide for the collection and destruction of remaining stocks of sodium fluoroacetate, to compensate persons who turn in sodium fluoroacetate to the Secretary of Agriculture for destruction, and for other purposes.' This is a highly toxic pesticide which can affect non-taraget species and produce horrific painful death.. Its effect on the brain should have consigned this pesticide to an elimination act years ago.
Oct 26, 2005 Bifenthrin Oct 26, 2005 - Pyrethroid pesticides found at toxic levels in California urban streams. By Robert Sanders.
A group of commonly used pesticides recently found at toxic levels in stream sediments in many agricultural areas around California is also a problem in urban streams, according to a new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Southern Illinois University and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board...
Bifenthrin, the pyrethroid that contributed most to the toxicity measured in the study, is available widely and sometimes mixed with fertilizer to spread as granules over lawns... Weston said that the most toxic of the pyrethroids - all of which are identified by the suffix -thrin - was bifenthrin, which could have gotten into the streams as runoff from homes treated by professional pest-control companies for pest such as ants, or from lawns treated with pesticides or popular fertilizer/pesticide combinations... Weston and his colleagues reported their findings in the Oct. 19 online issue of Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T), a publication of the American Chemical Society. The article will appear in the Dec. 1 print edition.
•• See also Science News: ... bifenthrin, was found at levels about 15 times higher than those reported in areas of California with intensive agriculture...
Oct 18, 2005 Trifluralin  Judge orders EPA to notify retailers, distributors, about pesticide concerns. By Peggy Andersen. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
A federal judge has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to send letters to pesticide retailers, distributors and wholesalers in three states (Washington, Oregon and California), outlining their responsibilities for notifying consumers about the dangers posed to salmon by the chemicals... At issue are products containing Malathion, Carbaryl, Trifluralin and Triclopyr, Diuron, 2,4-D and Diazinon...
Oct 11, 2005 Hexaflumuron NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When pest management professionals arrive in Music City for PestWorld 2005, they will visit the 15th most termite-infested major city in the United States.*
Since its inception 10 years ago, the Sentricon® [
Hexaflumuron] Termite Colony Elimination System has been installed on more than 76,000 sites throughout the state, a number slightly less than the entire population of Tennessee when it became a state in 1796... At PestWorld 2005, Dow AgroSciences is sponsoring the Saturday Opening General Session, where attendees will have the opportunity to hear keynote speaker Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security Advisor. 
The Dow AgroSciences booth, themed “Don’t Gamble on Termite Control,” will feature Texas Hold‘em poker and other related activities and giveaways.  Visitors to the booth will have the opportunity to learn about Dow AgroSciences entire portfolio of products, including Vikane® gas fumigant and Halo™ Electronic Termite Detection.
Ref: Dow to introduce new products, enhancements at PestWorld 2005. PCT (Pest Conrol Technology) website.
http://www.pctonline.com/news/news.asp?ID=3779
Oct 5, 2005 Norflurazon

Study finds herbicides from runoff in river. Agriculture largely to blame for carcinogens. By Kevin Lollar. news-press.com (Florida)

The Caloosahatchee River is receiving an unhealthy dose of herbicides, including potential carcinogens, from upstream, a Naples chemist said Tuesday at Mote Marine Laboratory's fourth Charlotte Harbor Conference... The herbicides atrazine, bromacil, norflurazon and simazine might cause cancer in humans; the fifth herbicide, ametryn, is not considered a potential carcinogen but can cause liver damage... "These herbicides are showing up in the water year after year," Hushon said. "Farmers use them to kill weeds and kill their crops at the end of the season. It's not a fluke. We see them every year." ...

Oct 3, 2005 Fertilizer Fluoride Shortfall. Fertilizer plant closure puts nationwide crimp on fluoridation. By Michael McCoy. Chemical & Engineering News.

The ongoing shutdown of a phosphate fertilizer plant in Florida has led to a sharp drop in supplies of a key water fluoridation chemical and to spot fluoride shortages in towns and cities across the U.S.
The Fort Meade, Fla., facility, operated by U.S. Agri-Chemicals, makes hydrofluosilicic acid (H2SiF6, HFS) as a by-product of the conversion of phosphate ore into finished fertilizer. With the plant winding down operations, some 15% of U.S. HFS capacity is coming off the market.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has warned of an emerging shortage that "will be experienced throughout the water industry." The pinch has been most severe in New England where, for example, the town of Shrewsbury, Mass., ran out of HFS in mid-September...
Oct 1, 2005 Flutriafol

Current-Use and Legacy Pesticide History in the Austfonna Ice Cap, Svalbard, Norway. By Mark H. Hermanson et al. Environ. Sci. Technol., 39 (21), 8163 -8169, 2005. See Abstracts

The Svalbard archipelago in arctic Norway receives considerable semivolatile organic contaminant (SOC) inputs from the atmosphere... The surface sample also had highest concentrations of pendimethalin (herbicide, 18.6 ng L-1) and flutriafol, the lone observed fungicide (9.6 ng L-1).

Sept 21, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- ProFume -

Environmental groups petition EPA to retract fluoride pesticide tolerances on food.
FAN, the Environmental Working Group, and Beyond Pesticides submitted Objections and Request for Hearing to US EPA on new fluoride residue tolerances from the use of sulfuryl fluoride as a fumigant on food. The groups issued this press release.

Also see:
Submission to EPA and links to Tables
Web sites: EWG and Beyond Pesticides

Sept 20, 2005

Sodium fluoroacetate

(also known as 1080)

Chances are slim that the toxin, possibly stolen inadvertently, will be found.
By Tom Alex and Perry Beeman. Des Moines Register (Iowa).

... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports from other incidents that a woman who swallowed the compound suffered nausea and abdominal pain and later had neurological problems. A man who breathed the compound experienced speech loss and convulsions and lapsed into a coma, the agency reported...

September 17, 2005

Sodium fluoroacetate

(also known as 1080)

Warning issued over stolen poison. By Tom Alex. Des Moines Register (Iowa).

Burglars who broke into a Des Moines home this week apparently left with a dangerous poison that authorities want to find. "A 1-ounce portion of this powder has potentially enough lethal doses in it to possibly kill up to 50 average-size humans between 150 and 175 pounds," Police Lt. Ray Rexroat said...

August 25, 2005 General article

Complaints By Workers Mar Bloom in Flower Farms. The Nation (Nairobi).
Very disturbing report on worker casulaties from pesticide exposure in the "cut flower" industry in Kenya.

Note: On Oct 3, 1996, EPA approved: Exception Decisions to Early Entry Prohibition, Worker Protection
Standard; Technical Amendment; Final Rule. 28 pesticides were identified for this exemption for the cut-rose flower industry. Included in this list: Bifenthrin • Cyfluthrin • Fluvalinate • Triflumizole. See initial proposal in October 30, 1996, Federal Register, which listed the 28 pesticides.

August 5, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- VIKANE -

Police: Woman Found In Fumigated Building Didn't Kill Hersel.
Source:
NBC SanDiego.com

SAN DIEGO -- A police investigation indicated a San Diego woman did not commit suicide when she died inside a condominium that was being fumigated for termites... Homicide detectives, though, now say there may have been violations of state law. They have forwarded the case to the district attorney's office, which may file criminal charges...

July 29, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- VIKANE -

Fines upheld in cat deaths. Appeal denied; fumigators held responsible.
By Kevin Howe. Monterey County Herald (California).

... Central Coast Exterminator Co. of Salinas was fined $2,750 and Mission City Fumigation Co. of San Jose $2,500 after the agricultural commissioner's office investigated the deaths of neighbors' cats that crawled into clients' houses in Carmel Valley on Sept. 22 and in Carmel on Oct. 6, according to Monterey County Assistant Agricultural Commissioner Bob Roach... At the June hearings, Deputy Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Ken Allen said the two pest control companies failed to follow labeling instructions on the Vikane containers they used...

July 28, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- VIKANE -

Teacher forfeits fumigation fight.

... From 1997 through 2001, 32 illnesses or injuries related to sulfuryl fluoride exposure were reported to state authorities, according to a study by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

July 18, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- VIKANE -

Termite trouble threatens day care

Condo board orders fumigation, but owner of preschool says toxins could harm children.

July 18, 2005 EPA hires P.R. firm for "good stories" about its research

Public Relations Campaign for Research Office at E.P.A. Includes Ghostwriting Articles. By Felicity Barringer. The New York Times.

WASHINGTON, July 17 - The Office of Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking outside public relations consultants, to be paid up to $5 million over five years, to polish its Web site, organize focus groups on how to buff the office's image and ghostwrite articles "for publication in scholarly journals and magazines."

The strategy, laid out in a May 26 exploratory proposal notice and further defined in two recently awarded public relations contracts totaling $150,000, includes writing and placing "good stories" about the E.P.A.'s research office in consumer and trade publications...

That contract, for feature articles, was awarded to JDG Communications of Falls Church, Va., for $65,692.62, Ms. Witcher said. The second smaller contract was also awarded to JDG Communications, for $85,829.06. It calls on the contractor to develop two "perception specific indicators" that "must show whether public relations efforts to create awareness and improve the reputation of E.P.A.'s research and development, its labs and its top-quality scientists has favorably influenced public perception." ...

June 30, 2005 Pesticide tests on humans Limits sought on testing for pesticides. By Michael Janofsky. New York Times.
By a 60-to-37 vote, a bipartisan measure introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, and a dozen others would place a one-year moratorium on any government-sponsored testing programs on humans.
By a 57-to-40 vote, a measure sponsored by three Republicans, Senators Conrad Burns of Montana, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, would require a review by third-party groups of all human testing programs conducted for the government, to identify and quantify their toxic effects. It also gives the E.P.A. six months to develop new regulations on pesticide testing.
Both measures were added to the appropriations bill for the Interior Department, which passed 94 to 0 on Wednesday. The House bill, passed earlier, has a section similar to the Boxer amendment but nothing comparable to the Burns measure. The differences in the bills will have to be resolved in conference...
June 17, 2005 Sulfuryl fluroide
- VIKANE -
Pest control companies fight fines in deaths of pet cats. Felines were overcome by poisonous gas during fumigation of homes. By KEVIN HOWE. Monterey County Herald (California).
June 15, 2005 Teflon
(PTFE)

Quotes from a June 15th article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "The Sticking Point," by David Rubien.

"We recommend that people phase out the use of Teflon cookware in their home," says Lauren Sucher of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D. C., organization that compiles data on toxicology.

"Believe me, you get more toxic fumes from the food you're cooking than from the pans themselves," says Dave Boothe, strategic planning manager for fluoropolymer solutions at DuPont.

The Environmental Working Group has collected data from several industry, government and academic studies that have been done on off-gassing of PTFE- coated pans heated to various temperatures. The tests revealed that more than a dozen types of potentially toxic particulates -- including hexafluoropropene, hydrogen fluoride and difluoroacetic acid -- are released. But whether the fumes occur in enough quantity to harm humans has not been determined.

Note from FAN: Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene) is an EPA "List 3 Inert" which is allowed for use in pesticide formulations.
June 14, 2005 PFOS chemicals

Sweden calls for world ban on PFOS chemical. By Daniel Frykholm, Reuters.
Sweden will this week propose a global ban on a chemical which may cause liver damage and is used by a number of industries including semiconductor makers, the country's Environment Ministry said on Tuesday.
PFOS, or perfluorooctane sulfonate, has been investigated as a potentially hazardous chemical by several countries because it does not biodegrade in the environment, posing a potential health risk to both animals and humans.
"Very high rates of PFOS have been found in polar bears, polar foxes, eagles and seals. Low doses ... have in animal studies shown effects on the liver and disturbances of reproductive capabilities," the ministry said in a statement...

Note from FAN: Some of these chemicals are used as "inerts" in pesticide formulations.

June 9, 2005 Fluridone Curing the pond: Is an herbicide really the best solution? By Michael Cox, The Wellesley Townsman (MA).
The state Department of Environmental Protection ruled that Sonar can be used as long as the welfare of three endangered species known to live in the pond is closely watched. The state agency's decision represented a victory for selectmen, who favored the treatment, and for boaters who say they have been hampered by weed growth in the pond. But it was a disappointment for Conservation Commission members and the town's water superintendent, who have argued against it on health and safety grounds... About 50 residents attended Monday's public forum to discuss the Morse's Pond Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations to fix the pond. Fifteen residents who attended the meeting identified themselves as opposed to using fluridone as a possible solution. ... Ken Wagner, a specialist with the environmental firm ENSR and the town's consultant on Morse's Pond, defended fluridone's use, saying he does not believe the pesticide poses an undue risk for the benefits it provides...
June 2, 2005 Fluridone State OK's use of weed killer in East Monponsett Pond. Sonar treatment to begin this month. By Christine Wallgren. Boston Globe.
... Conservation Commission members and the town's water superintendent argued against it on health and safety grounds... The time frame for applying Sonar is so tight that officials didn't even wait for tomorrow's close of the 10-day appeal period before beginning the prep work needed to treat the pond later this month... The state's ruling requires the town to continue monitoring the endangered species in the pond over the next five years. The cost of the Sonar application and monitoring has been placed at a little over $80,000.
May 28, 2005

Sodium fluoroacetate

(also known as Compound 1080)

Iraq's tests of coyote poison surface. Rep. Peter DeFazio says use of the poison that he had tried to have banned underscores loose U.S. controls on lethal agents.
... DeFazio "
said he will draft a bill next month to outlaw production, possession and import of Compound 1080... Compound 1080 was developed to control rats. But scientists later described it as 'so generally and highly toxic that it is too dangerous for general distribution.' ... It is legal in the United States only in a special sheep collar used in some states. Coyotes attacking domestic sheep puncture the collar and contact the poison, which kills them. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber in 1998 prohibited the use of such 1080-filled collars in Oregon... The poison is manufactured by one U.S. company, Tull Chemical Co. in Oxford, Ala., and much is exported to other countries such as New Zealand for pest control. The can pictured in Iraq bears a Tull label..."
• See photo of Tull Chemical
in a 2002 article, "Ban 1080," in the Predator Press.

May 18, 2005 Fipronil Tick box plan kicked out of Nahanton. By Karla Hailer-Fidelman. Newton TAB (Massachusetts)
... a partnership of Waltham Services and [Bayer] Corporation approached the city to test a "car wash for mice" in Nahanton Park - to control the tick population and reduce the spread of Lyme disease ... The program appeared to be on a fast track for approval until Duane Hillis from Friends of Nahanton Park and Ellie Goldberg from Green Decade argued against the program ... Ward 1 representative Jennie DeVito, who watched the debate with great interest, pointed out the commission just received the information at the evening's meeting with no chance of previous review. She didn't like it, suggesting that the city should first "go back to root [measures]" such as mowing or other methods. "There's no place good enough for your chemical in my city."
May 18, 2005 Obituary of Paul Keene, organic farming pioneer Paul K. Keene, 94, Organic Farming Pioneer. By Margalit Fox, NYT, May 18, 2005.
Paul K. Keene, a pioneer of organic farming in the United States whose products were among the first commercially available organic foods in the country, died on April 23 ... For more than half a century, Mr. Keene ran Walnut Acres Farm, near Penns Creeek in central Pennsylvania ... When Mr. Keene started Walnut Acres in the mid-1940s
, the agricultural gospel called for using chemical fertilizers and insecticides, with their promise of cheaper, more efficient farming. Natural farming was viewed as eccentric, if not downright un-American...
May 9, 2005 Sulfuryl fluoride According to Inside EPA: "EPA will soon respond to objections by environmentalists over pesticide tolerances" for sulfuryl fluoride. "The Fluoride Action Network Pesticide Project reiterated its public health concerns last month, by asking EPA for a public hearing on the first-time use standards of sulfuryl fluoride, which the group says could lead to bone damage and neurological problems particularly in children ... An EPA source says the agency is required under the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act to respond to the environmentalists' earlier objections and request for a hearing, but offered no indication on whether the request for a hearing would be granted."
May 4, 2005 Dow AgroSciences The Canadian National Research Council Plant Biotechnology Institute and Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc. signed a five year, $10 million strategic alliance. This research agreement, with contributions by the parties valued at $10 million over five years, builds on a previous five-year $10 million agreement in the area of canola, demonstrating a commitment of $20 million over 10 years to NRC-PBI research...
Note: FAN has formally objected to EPA's aproval of Dow AgroSciences sulfuryl fluoride as a food fumigant. While this notice has little to do with our objections, it highlights the willing collaboration of governmental agencies with Dow.
April 28, 2005 Diclosulam

On April 27, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that farmers whose crops are damaged by federally approved pesticides or herbicides may pursue damage claims against the manufacturers in state court.

29 Texas peanut farmers argued that during the 2000 growing season Dow's newly marketed Strongarm herbicide (diclosulam) severely damaged their crops.

According to the New York Times:

The 7-to-2 decision was one of the court's most significant rulings on the pre-emptive effect of federal statutes. In unusually pointed terms, the majority rejected the Bush administration's view that lawsuits claiming manufacturers negligently designed, tested or manufactured their products are pre-empted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act [FIFRA)], the federal law that governs the registration and labeling of these products...

The appeal has been closely watched for signs of the court's evolving approach to pre-emption. In general, a broad doctrine of pre-emption favors business by keeping tort cases out of state court and avoiding the need to satisfy 50 separate legal systems.

Since [FIFRA] provides no right for individuals to sue in federal court, a finding of pre-emption would have meant that consumers would have no opportunity at all to sue manufacturers. Arthur H. Bryant, executive director of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a public-interest law firm representing consumers, said the decision was "an important and striking development" in light of the general trend in legislatures and courts toward curbing access to the tort system.

... the court ordered the Fifth Circuit to give further consideration to whether the claims for fraud and "failure to warn" could go forward or were pre-empted. Justice Stevens said the administration's argument that [FIFRA] broadly required pre-emption "is particularly dubious given that just five years ago the United States advocated the interpretation that we adopt today."

See FAN's Index page to the Diclosulam Class Action: Bates et al. v. Dow AgroSciences

April 25, 2005 Fluoroacetamide

Amnesty International calls on Israel to halt poisoning of Palestinian livestock.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Amnesty International accused Israel of failing to prosecute Jewish settlers for attacking Palestinian locals and poisoning their livestock, the international rights group said.

Condemning the "increasingly frequent attacks" against Palestinian villagers, Amnesty urged the Israeli government to investigate all violent incidents, and in particular, the recent spate of cases of poisoning fields that has affected scores of Palestinian livestock...

April 12, 2005 Fluoroacetamide

Palestinian villagers accuse Israeli settlers of poisoning their flocks
By Agence France Presse (AFP). Published in The Daily Star (Lebanon).
... Tests carried out by the center for environmental health at the university of Beir Zeit in the central West Bank have found that the product spread in the pastures was fluoroacetamide. "The tests have revealed that it is fluoroacetamide, a very toxic substance without any known antidote. It was first conceived as a pesticide against rats and its production and use are forbidden without authorization from the Israeli government," said the center's director Ramzi Sansur. ... A spokesman for the Israeli police in the southern West Bank, Shlomi Sagui, confirmed that a "poison" had recently been detected in the fields in question following complaints from Palestinian villagers. "It is true that a poison has been found. We do not know yet know where it came from but an inquiry is under way," Sagui said. - AFP

April 11, 2005 Norflurazon

Pesticides appearing in Caloosahatchee River samples.
By Eric Staats. Naples Daily News (Florida).
... the Conservancy and the Watershed Council cite tests that have detected atrazine, bromacil, metolachlor, norflurazon and simazine...

April 8-9, 2005

Fluorinated pesticides included in the CHEERS Study in Duval County, Florida.

Bifenthrin

Fipronil

Lambda-dyhalothrin

Cyfluthrin (I, II, III, IV, total)

E.P.A. Halts Florida Test on Pesticides
By David D. Kirkpatrick. New York Times. April 9, 2005

EPA GRUDGINGLY PULLS PLUG ON QUESTIONABLE “CHEERS” STUDY
Other Human Pesticide Dosing Studies Without Safeguards Can Continue
Press release from the
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). April 8, 2005

Statement by Stephen L. Johnson, Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Cancelling Research Study
Press Release from US EPA. April 8, 2005.

April 7, 2005 Nominee Is Grilled Over Program on Pesticides. By MICHAEL JANOFSKY. New York Times.
"Stephen L. Johnson, President Bush's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, encountered unexpected turbulence at his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday as Senator Barbara Boxer of California threatened to hold up his nomination over a small but controversial pesticide program in Florida..."
April 6, 2005 Fluoroacetamide

Israel Probes Poisoning of Palestinian Sheep. By Haitham Tamimi.
Israeli police said on Tuesday they were investigating accusations that Jewish settlers killed sheep belonging to Palestinians with poison in a bid to drive Palestinians off their land in the West Bank... Ramzi Sansur, a Palestinian toxicologist who examined the pellets in a Bir Zeit university laboratory, said the chemical, Fluoroacetamide, was "extremely toxic" and ordinarily used to kill rodents in sewers... led to the death of 20 sheep and poisoning of 82 others that are fighting for their lives." ...
Other animals including gazelles and migratory birds also died.
Ref: Planet Ark World Environment News.

March 14, 2005

Bifenthrin

Cyfluthrin

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Upswing in Lesser Used, but More Potent Pesticides in California's Central Valley.
University of California-Berkeley researchers have conducted a study to determine the harmful effects of pyrethroid pesticides on aquatic organisms through sediment residues. What they have found is a trend toward using newer compounds that can be more toxic to aquatic life. The team of researchers studied six pyrethroids in three sediments taken from California’s Central Valley, where two-thirds of the state’s cropland is found. Study results showed acute toxicity and growth impairment in the amphipod Hyalella azteca, a sensitive test species. Animal biomass was roughly 38% below that of the control group when exposed to pyrethroid levels that were one-third to one-half of the lethal concentration. Except for permethrin, most pyrethroids would be acutely toxic to H. azteca at concentrations only slightly above detection limits. The six compounds tested in order of decreasing toxicity were bifenthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, esfenvalerate, cyfluthrin and permethrin.
To read the entire study, click here: http://www.allenpress.com/pdf/entc_24_414_966_972.pdf
March 2005 Sulfuryl fluoride
Vikane
Calif. woman dies after building fumigated. By MICHELLE MORGANTE. Associated Press.
December 17, 2004 Marine antifoulant coatings Arkema Inc. Honors R&D Innovators - 21 U.S. Patents Awarded to Corporate Researchers.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 15 ... For our marine antifoulant coatings resin product line, we have patented novel copolymers containing fluoro and silyl groups...
Ref: Inside Paint
Sept-Oct 2004

Fluorinated pesticides included in the CHEERS Study in Duval County, Florida.

Bifenthrin

Fipronil

Lambda-dyhalothrin

Cyfluthrin (I, II, III, IV, total)

A storm of controversy has erupted over an EPA "Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study" (CHEERS). This study was approved to assess children's exposure to pesticides in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. The study will monitor developmental changes in babies, from birth to age 3, who are exposed to pesticides in their homes. Four of the 16 pesticides are fluorinated. The perfluorinated chemicals PFOS and PFOA will also be monitored.

August 10, 2004 Fipronil

BASF termite product accepted as sponsor for US hockey team.
A North Carolina hockey team (the Hurricanes) accepts sponsorship deal with BASF-Termidor.
Termidor is a termite insecticide with fipronil its active ingredient.

March
-
August 2004
Fipronil

Class Action suit settled for $45 million
In July 1998, US EPA issued a Final Rule for the use of Fipronil ICON 6.2 FS Insecticide, its metabolites MB46136 and MB45950 and its photodegradate MB46513, to treat rice seed to control the pests rice water weevil and chinch bugs.
Contamination of the crawfish was either by
-- aerial spraying of Icon from a crop duster onto rice/crawfish fields;
-- in Louisiana, rice and crawfish are often farmed in the same pond or in close proximity to one another. Water used in a rice field (tailwater) is sometimes used to irrigate crawfish ponds.
Crawfish farmers suffered a complete crawfish mortality, resulting in damages to plaintiffs' 1999 Spring crawfish crop, as well as their 1999 - 2000 crop. A Class Action on the damages was settled in March 2004 for $45 million. As of August 2004, crawfish farmers are being asked for proof of their losses to be able to receive money. See
A little background on the geneology of Icon
News Items related to the settlement
Class Action reports and documents

July 26, 2004 Fluazifop-P-butyl Australia: Urgent Recall for Fusilade Post-Emergence Selective Herbicide. Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority.
June 2004 Fluometuron

Mitiamo, Australia: train accident spews herbicide onto cropland.
This small farming community, 60km north of Bendigo, sustained substantial losses due to the spread of Syngenta's fluormeturon onto canola crops.

May 2004

Diflovidazin

Penthiopyrad

Fluopicolide

Three new pesticides announced by the Compendium of Pesticide Common names -

Diflovidazin - Penthiopyrad - Fluopicolide

     
 
Fluoride Action Network | Pesticide Project | 315-379-9200 | pesticides@fluoridealert.org