Endocrine-Disruption
(Beyond Pesticides, March 10, 2011) The American Public Health Association (APHA) recently adopted 17 new policies at its 138th Annual Meeting in Denver, addressing a broad range of public health concerns, including a new policy calling for greater government action to protect the public from endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
Study Links Pesticides to Low Semen Quality ( www.beyondpesticides.org Beyond Pesticides, March 28 2011) Researchers found that exposure to organochlorine pesticides significantly alters semen quality in young men from southeast Spain. The study found 18 pesticides in the blood of the study participants, including some banned in Spain, such as DDT, and others legal in ...
Those of us who advocate for pesticide-free lawn care are constantly met with the same responses from the chemical industry: “Our products are safe when used as directed” or “We apply our pesticides in such small doses they couldn’t possibly be dangerous.” In what can only be called a ground-breaking debunking of those myths, the American Chemical Society — a non-partisan, non-profit organization chartered by Congress — called on the Environmental Protection Agency ( U.S. EPA) to completely revamp its testing procedures for toxic chemicals. The position statement was specifically targeting chemicals that disrupt the human endocrine system that controls our hormonal function. Here is a link to the full statement from the Chemical Society: http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/policy/publicpolicies/promote/endocrinedisruptors/CNBP_023441
(Beyond Pesticides, April 29, 2009) Colborn says EPA tests for endocrine disruption outdated The US EPA program below is inadequate before starting.
(Beyond Pesticides, April 17, 2009) EPA Identifies Pesticides To Be Sceened for Endocrine Disruption
EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) page. The first group of 67 chemicals identified for testing includes pesticide active ingredients and High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals used as pesticide inert ingredients (also known as formulants in Canada). The list is found at http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/oscpendo/pubs/final_list_frn_041509.pdf (scroll to the bottom). The list contains high volume pesticides licensed in Canada such as chlorpyrifos and other organophosphate insecticides, pyrethroid insecticides, several herbicides including glyphosate and trifluralin. Five of the 6 formulants listed are also used in Canada, with no disclosure of which pesticide products contain them .
Pesticides That Disrupt the Endocrine System Still Unregulated by EPA includes a lost of pesticides and related chemicals recognized by the scientific community as known or suspected endocrine disruptors. (Pesticides and You. Vol 28, no 1, Spring 2008. Beyond Pesticides). This article is important because, in spite of a change or wording in 2007, the set of data mandated for pesticide registration in Canada has not changed since 1984. Currently, no pesticide in Canada is regualted because of its endocrine-disrupting properties.
Facing Scientific Realities, Debunking the "Dose Makes the Poison" Myth: The big picture - linking pesticide science and health effects, by Warren Porter, Ph.D. (Pesticides and You. Vol 27, no 4, Winter 2007- 2008. Beyond Pesticides). The danger of endocrine-disrupting substances is that they have functional effects at very low doses, and the effects are more severe at low doses. In general, low-dose mixtures of pesticides and/or other chemicals have also proven to be more toxic than expected from their individual toxicity.
Sept 22, 2008 Pyrethroids Affect Puberty at Low Levels
The disappearing male. (CBC-TV, Doc Zone, Thursday November 6, 2008) Why are less and less males being born? At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia. The answer: petrochemicals, plastics and perfumes. Read more about it:
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/index.html