Do Not Buy List

Updated 5.11.2011:  The Silent Spring’s recent study found chemicals of concerns (asthma triggers, estrogen mimics, and cancer causing suspects) in many household products, including ones labeled as “alternatives” or “green”.  Information from this study is outlined under “household products below and detailed in the Silent Spring press release.

The Silent Spring study did not test ALL alternative products, so that there may be some clean ones they did not discover.

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Feel free to copy, print and distribute this list. Given the large numbers of chemical and brand names here, feel free to print this and take it shopping with you.

See Your Choices Matter for a list of action alerts that allow you to influence public policy.

Foods

Arsenic in baby formula and energy bars

The source of contamination is evidently brown rice syrup– even, in some cases, brown rice syrup that is supposed to be organic. The baby formula incidence  is most alarming, since it is largely the type of arsenic that is known to cause cancer.   However, one cereal bar had 12 times the arsenic currently allowed in drinking water.

Trying to avoid arsenic in your organic rice?  Use organic rice grown in California rather than former cotton lands in the South-central US where arsenic was used as a pesticide in those earlier crops.

Milk-based formulas were lower in arsenic than non-dairy formulas– likely because of the rice syrup sweetener in non-dairy products.  The researchers at Dartmouth who found this suggest that a single energy bar poses little hazard, but that those on gluten-free diets who use a substantial amount of rice in their diet vary this by using other grains as well.

Nature’s One organically certified infant formula has a response to this problem in which they indicate that their products are specifically tested for their arsenic levels.

Why rice?  Arsenic is naturally occurring in particular water sources and rice takes much water to raise.  Air pollution from the smeltering of particular metals falls back onto rice products, which is why Chinese rice tends to be so high in mercury from coal burning. Such heavy  metal concentration– unless specifically tested for– may well fall below the radar of organic certification that is checking for pesticide exposure– though arsenic was one of the earliest forms of pesticides used in the pre-DDT era.

Older forms of treated wood were also treated with arsenic (now illegal):  and leach readily into garden beds. Treated wood of all types (including the old arsenic treated variety)  is ground and recycled into chips sold to homeowners and landscapers. Lane County Waste Management, for instance, does not take it in as “hazardous waste” (though they used to)– but instead gives all incoming treated wood to these chip sourcing companies.  Children’s play structures with arsenic-treated wood have largely been replaced in public parks– but I don’t know if anyone has traced what happened to the treated wood they replaced.

This problem with arsenic exposure follows shortly after the finding of arsenic in apple juice below.

Arsenic in apple juice

All commercial apple juices were recently found to contain inorganic arsenic, with baby foods containing some of the highest levels.
Arsenic as a pesticide has been outlawed in the US, but is still used in China, where much processed apple juice originates.

Arsenic in Commercially Raised (Factory Farmed)  Chicken

Chickens raised in crowded commercial conditions in which they are unable to move have plenty of problems related to these inhumane conditions, including frequent debeaking so that they will  not act on the cannabalistic impulses created by such crowding.

On a health basis, commercial chicken is yet another product in which consumers may find arsenic– evidently fed to these chickens to help combat infections deriving from frequent sores caused by their living conditions.  I can’t tell you why commercial chickens might also contain caffeine and Benadryl, though a banned class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones is more understandable– if no less problematic.  The latter were found in the analysis of chicken in peer reviewed studies of researchers at John Hopkins and Arizona State University.

“Organic” foods imported from China

The USDA tests only one per cent of foreign imports and what it has found for the Chinese use of the “USDA Organic” label is that many of these foods are not only NOT organic, but have toxic residues that would surpass standards for any food being sold in the US.  Some even still contain melamine  (remember the plastic-waste “protein” that seriously sickened a number of babies with melamine-laced infant formula and killed many pets with its presence in pet food?) Sadly, the offenders in this regard undermine the confidence with which one can buy “organic” products from those China producers who use this label legitimately– and many do.   But you should check out the conditions and integrity of particular producers in order to be secure that you want to consume their foods.

Sodas

BVO:  There is enough question about whether “bromated vegetable oil” can build up in human tissue to cause it to be banned in the European Union, where soda manufacturers use readily available alternatives.  BVO is an emulsifier that gives these light colored sodas their cloudy appearance, but BVO, originally banned by the FDA and given provisional status in the 1970s (and still allowed under that “interim” status), has been linked to suggestive bromine build up in the body in European studies. Bromine build up is linked, in turn, to heart muscle and nerve damage.

Phosphates:  You could switch to colas like Pepsi and Dr. Pepper which do not have BVO– if you don’t care about your bones.  The combination of phosphorus and carbonation in beverages interferes with calcium uptake in the bones. This is especially hazardous to teenage girls who should be building up their bone mass to allow them to avoid osteoporosis later in life.  Sodas do NOT belong in school cafeterias for this reason alone.

Sugar or “Diet”:  most sugar in sodas is corn syrup (see below) which has its own problems.  At the very least, we don’t need all this extra sugar in our diets.  But if you switch to diet drinks in the hopes of avoiding calories, you may not be thereby avoiding extra pounds.  Why? Researchers don’t know, but recent studies have indicated the same amount of weight gain with those ingesting diet sodas as those ingesting the sugared variety. One supposition is that “fake” sugar may stimulate the appetite system without satisfying it, thus actually inciting people to eat more sugar in response.

Canned foods with BPA

At breastcancerfund.org there is a downloadable wallet card on canned foods to avoid, since they are sealed with this synthetic estrogen that double blind studies have linked with breast cancer, reproductive problems, obesity, and ADHD. These include especially salty, fatty or sugary food into which BPA leaches so that you consume it with the food. This means most processed canned foods (even organic ones like beans and coconut milk).

The following companies, however, have gone BPA free in their canned foods:

Eden

Vital choice, Oregon’s choice, Wild Planet and Eco Fish (canned fish)

Trader Joe’s :  canned corn, canned beans, canned fish, canned poultry, and canned beef at Trader Joe’s are all packaged in BPA free cans. However, any other products that contain corn or beans or fish, etc. and other items – for example in soups or chilis – are not in BPA free cans, the company said. No labeling here, either.

Edward & Sons produces a line of exotic, often organic, sustainably raised canned and packaged goods without BPA in their packaging, including Native Forest and Native Factor brands.

More companies will hopefully be added to the safe list as more data comes out on BPA dangers. As always, it is best to buy fresh or frozen goods.

Since BPA is found in many plastics, also avoid heating in plastic microwave packaging.  Also switch to stainless steel (not aluminum) or glass cooking and storage containers.

Debra’s List contains a list and analysis of over 1000 healthier alternatives or green products:  especially useful for parents.

For more info and if you would like to join an alliance that works to protect our families by keeping toxics out of our food, homes, and larger environment, check out Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

Be especially careful of high acid fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and some fruit juices in cans. Giving these to children is a bad idea, since certain tomatoes in BPA sealed cans have been tested to leach enough BPA to replace natural hormones.

Do not buy chocolate that is not fair trade certified: even organic chocolate that is not fair trade may be processed by children enslaved on African plantations.  Chocolate produced in Central American is likely to be better in this regard. Fair trade is best of all.

Nestle UK and Cadbury are to be complemented for signing fair trade agreements with African workers– though the agreements are problematic in that they are only partial.  Hersheys, ADM and Cargill, however, are lagging behind after a supposed “voluntary” phase out of child slave labor that has failed to produce any substantial change in nine years.

See list under “halloween” section below for companies that claim to produce “slave-free” chocolate– though their claims may or may not be certified by a third party unless they are “fair trade”.

DO buy  Divine Chocolate: it is made by a woman’s co-op in Africa; the co-op gets a substantial part of the proceeds.

Better to avoid rice from China. Because of the proliferation of coal-fired plants in China, rice is now the single greatest source of mercury contamination there.  Coal burning produces mercury as a pollutant, which then falls onto crops.

Corn syrup is everywhere in processed foods (indeed, a benefit to avoiding it is avoiding many processed foods).  Research has indicated it may be an “obesegen”– since it does not register in the brain’s satiety centers in the same way that ordinary table sugar does.   But its worst hazard is that corn syrup has been found to be high in mercury, since its manufacture entails the use of lye made by pumping salt through large vats of mercury.

Milk and milk products containing rBGH or recombinant bovine growth hormone: a genetic copy of cow hormones that causes them to produce more milk.

Research indicating negative human health effects, such as the speed up of breast and prostrate cancers,  has caused rBGH to be banned in Europe and Canada, and to be boycotted by 95 percent of US dairy farmers.   However, the FDA, EPA and Department of Agriculture continue to license the drug (and other genetically engineered foods) without adequate pre-market safety tests.

Buy milk and cheese that is rBGH-free .   If you are in Oregon, support local dairy farmers who have refused to use this hormone from the outset.

The presence of this hormone in old dairy cows (a major source of hamburger in the US) is another reason to buy organic and/or totally grass fed beef (not cattle “finished” on grain to fatten them at the end of their lifespan).

Bottled water: Carry your own cup to stop ocean plastic waste, waste of energy and water in bottling water, and corporate buy-up of water rights.

In case you need additional health concerns to stop using bottled water, you may want to take note of the fact that the FDA allows lead in bottled water, even though there is no safe level of lead for human consumption (that is, all lead negatively effects the human nervous system, especially in children).  Here is basic information on lead in drinking water.

For a list of the host of toxic chemicals found in bottled water, see here.

And for a fun film by Annie Leonard (creator of the “Story of Stuff”) on bottled water, see here.

General information for food safety

What’s on my Food lists foods that are safest to eat as opposed to those most likely to be contaminated.

The following “dirty dozen” comes from this site. These are fruits and vegetables that contain proportionately large numbers of pesticides:  note that these are numbers of pesticides, not amounts per se; however, this  is certainly a fairly good indicator of pesticide amounts and potential toxicity:

• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines

The Nutrition Action Health letter, produced by the non-profit  Science in the Public Interest’s October, 2011 issue focuses on healthy eating in honor of Word Food Day, and November5, 2011 focuses on food safety in your kitchen (prevention of food borne disease).

Seafood

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has an extensive list of sustainable and healthy fish choices to supplant those that are mercury laden, have extensive bycatches or are implicated in ocean habit degradation and species extinction.  They have a downloadable card you can print and take shopping with you.

Farmed Salmon

One of the fish listed as a health risk on the Monterey Aquarium website calls for special attention:  farmed salmon.  Ocean-going wild salmon (labeled “wild Alaska salmon”) is one of the cleanest fish you can buy– and one of the highest in healthy fatty acids and vitamin D. Unfortunately, farm raised salmon is one of the dirtiest fish you can purchase– and its healthy fatty acids have gone the way of its diet, which includes carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT found in the mix of  soy, poultry litter, and hydrolyzed chicken feather these penned fish are fed.

Any salmon that is labeled “Atlantic” is farmed, since there are no more wild Atlantic salmon fisheries.

Corn Fed Beef

Once upon a time (I remember the days! ) “corn fed beef” was considered prime, but no longer.  Cattle are naturally herbivores, and feeding them grain in order to hasten fattening leads to digestive upsets on the part of the cattle (who need to be acclimated to this unnatural diet) as well as health and environmental risks to humans.  Michael Pollen, in his  Ominivore’s Dilemma,  indicates the scientific case for why.   Grass fed beef, for instance, is almost entirely free of the e coli contamination of grain fed beef– a corn diet changes the acidity of the cow’s stomach, which allows these bacteria to flourish.  One feedlot vet told Pollen that if his bovine charges had been fed grass instead, he would be out of business. As it is, feed lot cows are fed a constant infusion of antibiotics and many still fall victim to various disease, since the corn diet plays havoc with their immune systems.

And perhaps if “corn fed” meant just good old fashioned corn– but it doesn’t.  In spite of the prohibitions on feeding cows certain body parts of sheep to prevent “mad cow disease”  (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy),  protein in feed lot cow feed often includes blood and other body parts of chicken (such as skin and feathers) as well as beef “waste” from other butchered cattle.

Corn-fed hamburger is especially bad, since a pound of commercial hamburger may contain the meat of a hundred cows scraped from areas near the bone and spine where the “prions” of mad cow reside.

If that is not enough, the corn diet largely does away with healthy fats in beef flesh, replacing them with unhealthy saturated fats.

Moreover, corn feeding means a substantial toll on water and oil resources in the raising of subsidized corn crops to feed these cattle. whereas environmentally conscious (rotated) grazing means beef production on lands otherwise unsuited for agricultural production.

And if you have humanitarian concerns, the CAPOS (concentrated feeding operations) give animals a wretched existence, as well as giving workers some of the worst jobs in the nation.   See Fast Food Nation for more details.  It is no surprise that the agribusiness lobby recently asked the FDA to prevent pictures of their operations from becoming public.

Buy grass fed beef at your local farmer’s market (or from a local farmer!)  to pressure changes in this irrational system of beef production.

Alas, Apples!

The sales from this Pacific Northwest staple took a dive during the “alar” scale– when this pesticide was determined to cause cancer. The problem is that the easiest route to blemish free fruit in our climate (given various fungi and the apple maggot) is spray, spray, spray.  Sadly, the consumer demand for “heritage” apples has made things worse, since these fruits– often-grafted for quick production– do not have a chance to develop resistance over generations.  So no more alar means other sprays instead.  In fact, inorganic apples are one of the “dirty dozen” fruits singled out for high levels of contamination by the environmental working group.  And peeling doesn’t help when so many modern pesticides are “systematic”– that is, engineered to be taken up into fruit flesh and persist there.

This is especially problematic for children, since the EPA pesticide standards don’t account for their additional susceptibility as compared with adults– or the fact that they may be ingesting more apples that the yearly “average” they use to compute safety.

Buy organic apples to protect yourself, your children, and the environment.  They are periodically on sale for less than commercial varieties locally in the Willamette Valley.  Even better, look for unsprayed neighborhood trees where apples are going to waste–and ask permission to glean them.  Many apples keep for months, others can be dried and sauced (cut out the wormy parts, which tells you they have not been sprayed!).

Microwave popcorn

Two problems:  butter substitutes which have caused serious health risks in workers (and are now slowly being phased out) and chemicals in bag linings, which are highly toxic.  Here is where the budget conscious  come out on top:  it only takes a few minutes to pop your own popcorn.  If you don’t want to do it on the stove top, check out local second hand stores for super cheap air poppers.

Cottonseed oil and Cotton clothing

Cotton is  the most highly pesticide- sprayed crop in the US , but it is not classified as a food crop, so the pesticides in its oil are not regulated by the EPA.  Since cottonseed oil is one of the cheapest oils available, it is liable to show up in processed snack food like potato chips. Sometimes this is obscured by a label that reads, “may contain soy (or some other oil) or cottonseed oil”. Don’t buy it; it if is either/or, you can be pretty sure it contains the cheapest oil.

Of the 15 pesticides used on cotton, the EPA has classified 7 of them as probable, likely, or possible causes of cancer.  In the Punjab in India, cotton growing areas center cancer outbreaks.

Throw out anything with cottonseed oil in it. And look for “organic”, “green” or “fair trade” cotton in your clothing unless you want to be cause environmental and human health damage as you pick out your “natural” cotton clothing.

Also, rice grown in former cotton growing areas in the South (where arsenic was an early pesticide) are more likely to have unacceptable levels of arsenic (that is, higher than the FDA limit for drinking water) than rice grown in California where no cotton was formerly grown.

Halloween Special 

(October 2011)

One hundred per cent of children’s face paints tested by the Environmental Working Group contain lead, for which there is no safe exposure limit.  Because face paint is classified as a cosmetic, its ingredients do not not have to be labeled, so parents have no way of telling that what they are purchasing for childhood fun contains lead and other heavy metals.  Here are tips for a toxics-free Halloween (including costumes made with PVC and laced with phlalates recently outlawed in children’s toys).

And while you are at it, make sure that your children’s Halloween fun does not contribute to children’s slave labor on African plantations.  Buy Fair Trade chocolate. Mars and Cadbury, who recently  made agreements with the Rainforest Alliance to used “ethically sourced chocolate” thereby agreed to used only 30 per cent ethically sourced chocolate. That at least is better than Hersheys, which has made no such agreement at all.

The following companies list their chocolates as “slave-free”– although some production methods have not been verified by a third party, Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate hold cooperative contracts with laborers.

Chuao

Denman Island Chocolate

Divine Chocolate Co.

The Endangered Species Chocolate Company

Equal Exchange

Green and Black’s

Health by Chocolate

Ithaca Fine Chocolates

Lake Champlain

L.A. Burdick Chocolates

La Siembra Cooperative

Malagasy

Max Havelaar

Mayordomo

Montezuma’s Chocolates

Newman’s Own Organics

Nirvana Chocolates

Omanahene Cocoa Bean Company

Original Hawaiian Chocolate

Plamil Organic Chocolate

Rapunzel Pure Organics

San Francisco Chocolate Factory

Seed & Bean Chocolate

Shaman Chocolates

Sweet Earth Chocolates

Terra Nostra Organic

Theo Chocolate

Tony Chocolonely

Trader Joe’s Organic Chocolate Bars

Yachana Gourmet

Clothes

Sandblasted jeans

Some manufacturers still use manual sandblasting to soften or shape denim: a process that puts thousands  of  worker lives at risk of silicosis, a  deadly pulmonary disease. Good news: Levi’s, H&M and C&A have abolished this practice.

However, Armani and Roberto Cavalli have refused to even discuss banning this process.  The following companies have publicly committed to a ban, but are dawdling in carrying it out: Benetton, Diesel, Dolce & Gabbana,New Yorker, Orsay, Replay and Versace.  Don’t buy their jeans unless they get serious about not risking their worker’s health to produce them. Check Clean Clothes for updates on this issue and others effecting the workers that produce our clothes. 

Household products

The good news:  Here are the Spring study tested products that do NOT contain toxic chemicals of concern:

1. Healthy Pet Foods Here’s the Scoop! Natural Unscented Clay Clumping Litter
2. Seventh Generation Chlorine-Free Diapers
3. Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser, No Chlorine, Perfume or Dye
4. Seventh Generation Free and Clear Dishwashing Detergent
5. Seventh Generation Free and Clear Natural Dish Liquid
6. Tom’s of Maine Natural Long-Lasting Deodorant Stick, Aluminum-Free, Unscented
7. Bean Products Pure Cotton Shower Curtain
8. Excell Home Fashions Ultimate Nylon Shower Curtain or Liner
9. Carapelli Extra Light Olive Oil
10. Magick Botanicals Fragrance Free Hairspray
11. Dr. Bronners Magic Soaps Unscented Baby-Mild Pure Castille Soap

In general:

Since many chemicals of concern are not labeled,  Dr. Dodson suggests the avoidance of products that contain fragrances and antibacterials or anti-microbials, which must be labeled by law.  Other tips for avoiding toxic chemicals in household products from the Silent Spring Institute:

CHOOSE:

Fewer products.
Plant-based ingredients.
Plain water, baking soda, and vinegar for cleaning.
Shade, hats, and tightly woven fabric cover-ups for sun protection.

AVOID:

Fragrances in cleaning and personal care products.
Vinyl products, especially pillow and mattress protectors.
Antimicrobials in soap, toothpaste and other products (watch out for “antibacterial,” “antimicrobial,” “triclosan” and “triclocarban” on the label).
Stain resistant furniture sprays or clothing.
Parabens in lotions, deodorants, shampoos and other cosmetics (look for “paraben-free”; watch out for “methylparaben,” “ethylparaben” and “butylparaben on the label).
Cyclosiloxanes in sunscreen and hair products (watch out for “cyclomethicone” on the label).

The Silent Spring Institute has a dowloadable wallet card with this information on it.

The Institute also suggests avoiding products with lavender and tea tree oil, though I haven’t been able to verify why.  I know that these are herbal anti-microbials that perhaps become chemicals of concern in concentrated or distilled formulations.  For instance, thyme is a cooking herb, whose oil is used in herbal cough syrup, but such cough syrup must be kept out of children’s reach, since drinking several teaspoons of thyme oil can cause brain damage.

Sunscreen:

All brands, including alternative ones, tested in the Silent Spring study, had concerning levels of estrogenic chemicals.  Some have nanoparticles in them engineered to carry UV filers deeper into skin layers.  Neither of these are characteristically labeled and thus Dr. Robin Dodson, lead researcher of the  Silent Spring study, advices that sunscreen be used judiciously–and replaced by use of shade, hats, and covering clothing where possible.  She notes that it is a contemporary engineering opportunity to design a sunscreen that prevents skin cancer without toxic chemicals.

Some children’s car seats, blankets and other products contain the same toxic flame retardant prohibited for use on adult mattresses.   For more details see here.  And until the law is changed to prohibit these flame retardants in all products, avoid any product that is labeled:  “treated with TB117″.  Meanwhile, use a vacuum with a HEPA filter to rid your child’s room of dust with this toxic in it.

Chlorine bleach has been banned in certain European countries.  It has a proto-estrogen effect (see note on herbicides and plant hormones below).  Moreover, incineration of products treated with chlorine produces dioxin, a highly toxic and persistent chemical in extremely minute amounts.

If possible, avoid not only using chlorine bleach, but buying bleached paper products and swimming in pools disinfected with chlorine products.  There are safer alternatives to all of these.

Germicidal soaps sold over the counter: these soaps not only do not live up to their claims in reducing illness, they are a central element in creating antibiotic resistance.

Old growth forests or toilet Paper?

Or “Tigers or Toilet Paper”, as the World Wildlife Fund puts it with regard to pulping of pristine Asian rainforests for toilet paper to market to industrial nations– bypassing the simple alternative of using crops on degraded plantation land instead.  Avoid Paseo or LIVI brands and their offshoots– since they are responsible for ravaging biodiverse rainforests for our toilet paper.

Some North American old growth forests are also being  for toilet paper. To avoid this, look for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper and wood products.  Note that an extensive consumer campaign recently caused Home Depot to change its suppliers and carry FSC certified lumber. Consumer response does make a difference! And thanks for Home Depot for changing its policy and offering sustainable alternatives to its customers.

Do-it-yourself bathtub strippers– don’t!  Your remodel might be fatal.

The US Center for Disease Control early this year (2012) announced deaths of at least 13  persons using methyl chloride compounds available in your hardware store that come with only a small print warning NOT to use in the bathroom because of the need for ventilation in using this extremely toxic paint-stripping product. Notably, the deaths were of professional bathroom refinishers. Data on home owners trying this for themselves are not available.

Personal Care Products

Lipstick

Many lipsticks and other colorants in personal care products currently contain substantial amounts of lead.  Just this year (2011) the personal care industry spent $170,000 lobbying Congress to defeat a Senate Bill that would hold these products to the same standards that prohibit lead in paint and gasoline.

As of now, the lead in lipstick (and children’s Halloween make up, it seems) does not even have to be labeled.  See Skin Deep for an assessment of the ingredients in particular personal care products.  The following overview  is from this website of the Environmental Working Group’s “know the label” page.

Adults

• Avoid soaps, surfactants, and lubricants listed at the beginning of the product label that start with “PEG” or have an “-eth” in the middle (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate).
• Avoid ingredients in the middle of the label like “FRAGRANCE (artificial) ,” “FD&C,” or “D&C” colorings.
• Avoid these preservatives listed at the end of the label:
  • Chemicals ending in “paraben”
  • DMDM hydantoin
  • Imidazolidinyl urea
  • Methylchloroisothiazolinone
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Triclosan
  • Triclocarban
  • Triethanolamine (or “TEA”)

Children

Here are the EWG’s six top chemicals to avoid in children’s products:

• 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3 Diol
• BHA
• Boric acid and sodium borate
• DMDM Hydantoin
• Oxybenzone
• Triclosan

Ahava beauty products: These are not made in Israel as touted, but in a settlement the UN has declared illegal in Palestinian territory, and they exploit Palestinian resources from the Dead Sea in their manufacture.  There will be no peace in the Middle East or security for either Israel or Palestine until Israel follows UN guidelines in this respect– a point made by this international boycott.

Pesticides

(Insecticides, Herbicides, and Fungicides)

There are a number of pesticides the  EPA has listed as known, probable or possible cancer causes that it continue to license  for household and agricultural use–or allows shelf stocks  of these to be sold even after they have been banned.  Last year’s report of the President’s Cancer Panel found several hundred chemicals approved for current pesticide use that research has linked to breast, colon, lung, testicular, and other cancers.

Pesticides have other liabilities as well:

According to Pediatrics (May 2010), children’s pesticide exposure  (at the level of simply eating commercial produce– or playing on treated school lawns) is clearly linked to ADHD.  This no surprise, since many pesticides and organophosphates in particular are designed to have toxic effects on biological nervous systems.  These have also been linked to Parkinson’s disease (see below) and other neurological disorders.

Here is a partial list of brand names of organophosphates or combined chemical products that include these (which may be even more dangerous because of synergistic effects):

Cythion, Malathion, Grain Protectant, Fyfanon, Backrubber, Orthene, Acecap, Sniper, Guthion, Captan, Diazinon, DCT, DCT Dual, Caption CT, Chlorpyrifos, 3M Livestock Premise Spray, Dursban, Disvap Mec, Lorsban, Pyrifos, Pyrate, Pyrinex, Basudin, DZN, Diazol, Protector, Proturf, Y-TEX Optimizer, Potato Seed Piece treatment, Agrox B-2, Agrox CD, Eliminator, Dichlorvos, DDVP Plant Fume, Disvap, DDVP, Vapona, Vaportape II, Disvap III, Barn and Livestock Spray,Emul Plus No3, Kelthane, Dicofol, Cygon, Dimethoate, Lagon, Di-Thioate, Endosulfan, Thiodan, Thionex, Vendex, Aliette, Fosetyl-aluminum, Mancozeb, Ridomil Gold MZ, Gavel, Monitor 480L, Methamidophos, Naled, Dibron, Phoslane, Zolone. Phosmet, Imidan, Louse Kill, Clean Crop Mushroom Fly Dust, Counter, Terbufos, Ectogard ear tag, Dylox, Neguvon.

(Compiled from the source list of the BC Ministry of Agriculture).

If you have any of these pesticides in your household and want to dispose of them, take them to your local landfill for special hazardous waste disposal. Never simply put them in the trash.

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Other pesticides to avoid for their specific harms:

Neo-nictionoids: below are the brand names of pesticides implicated in colony collapse disorder devastating bees throughout the world.

These products have been banned in four European countries:

Clothianidin: Poncho, Titan, Clutch, Belay, Arena.

Imidacloprid: Admire, Advantage, Confidor, Gaucho, Marathon, Merit, Premeir, Provado, Bayer Advanced, Rose Defense, Kohinor,  Hachikusan, Premise, Prothor, and Winner.

Thiamethoxam: Actara, Crusier, Platinum, Helix, Centric

Acetamiprid: Assail, Intruder, Adjust

Thiacloprid: Calypso

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Indoor insecticides

In parts as low as 4 parts per trillion, exposure in pregnant women to the supposedly safer Pyrethroid formulations lowered the developing mental capacity of their babies for up to 36 months after birth (the length of this study reported in Pediatrics). Organophosphates that these formulations replaced are nerve toxins to which pregnant women should not be exposed.  Household sprays Black Flag and Raid contains OPs.

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Other pesticides are likely implicated in the collapse of over one third of honeybee colonies in the US in less than a decade.  One recent report shows that honeybee cells of collapsed colonies contain sealed pollen cells– evidently in an attempt to protect the colony from toxins, since the sealed cells were especially  high in pesticides compared to other colony cells.  Unfortunately, this did not work for the bees, since these were the cells of dead colonies.

Other pesticides to avoid:

Atrazine

The most widely used herbicide in the US has now been pulled from the market by the European Union. Scientists have recently found that it works by disrupting sunlight related energy-production in plants. Humans have a similar chemical process that enables communication between the pituitary gland and other organs, which may explain atrazine use is statistically related to higher rates of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in farmers, pesticide applicators, golf course workers, and dogs in homes using atrazine as a lawn chemical.  Moreover, the spread of atrazine, which is extremely water soluble, cannot be contained or controlled– since it travels through ecological  systems following the same routes as do water cycles.

Pesticides implicated in causing Parkinson’s disease in consistent research results over the last 30 years:

Though some of these have been banned, manufacturers are allowed to sell remaining stocks from their shelves:   Rotenone (Dursban); Paraquat,  Dieldrin, Maneb and Benomyl. See organophosphate list above for additional neurotoxins that are also implicated in  neural disorders ranging from ADHD in children to Alzheimer’s in the elderly, both of which are on the rise in numbers indicating environmental causes.  Autism is another neurological condition whose numbers are increasing exponentially–and has been linked to pesticide exposure.

Carbaryl/Sevin is also a neurotoxin that can no longer be legally used– or so I thought until I saw an ad for it in a recent homestore flyer.

Check your dog’s flea collars to make sure it is not an ingredient.

One test showed that Sevin powder applied to rosebushes resulted in changes in brainwave patterns of children (10 year olds)  in neighboring yards for up to a year.

The inventor of Carbaryl/Sevin has asked that it be taken off the market.

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Weed and Feed (with its 2 4-D) and related herbicides have recently been banned in Quebec after an evaluation of health effects by a national doctors’ panel.

Many herbicides such as these work by using a plant hormone that stimulates over-growth and subsequent death of broad leaf plants.  Unfortunately, that hormone is chemically similar to female mammal hormones which human bodies may mistakenly respond to with cellular overgrowth in reproductive organs (creating miscarriages in pregnant women and reproductive problems and cancer in a number of species, including humans). These chemicals have also been implicated in decreasing male hormones in numerous species– including humans.

Round up (glyphosate:  including Monsanto Round Up Ready seeds):

Dr. Don Huber, coordinator of the Emergent Diseases and Pathogens committee of the American Phytopathological Society, recently warned the USDA of a new, self-replicating, micro-fungal organism found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas– and implicated in spontaneous abortion and “sudden death” in livestock.   This follows a report of Argentine scientists that Round Up causes birth defects in frogs and chickens.  Round Up has been implicated in fetal abortion and premature birth, as well as birth defects in humans as well, according to the assessment of the scientists on Earth Open Source, reporting on research in several countries.  This follows on the heels of a suit a few years back pressed by New York State against Monsanto, manufacturer of Round Up and “Round Up Ready soy”‘ charging that Monsanto’s advertisements calling d Round Up’s safe consisted of fraud.   Earth Source cited data that showed Round Up in moderate amounts (less than that used on lawns) not only caused birth defects in animals, but in larger amounts caused the outright death of human placental cells.  The use of Round Up ready soy (a gmo product) and Round Up together was implicated in the rise of dozens of new plant diseases in Argentine fields.

The World Health Organization has verified  fatal poisonings of 20,000 persons annually from these pesticides;  since these cases are difficult to verify, the actual statistics may be ten times that much.  See The Death of Ramón Gonzáles for a detailed analysis of the social and environmental effects of these pesticides on global agricultural systems.

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If  you must:  for safer usage:

It is better to avoid this minefield altogether and use natural (and cheaper) alternatives in the NCAP and PAN libraries (see our links page).  But if you must use them, follow the rules below:

1.  Use bait rather than spray to control drift.

2.  Chose non-systematic and non-persistent chemicals

3.  Follow label directions carefully and notify your neighbors when you apply chemicals. (You may be liable for chemical “trespass” that harms the health or gardens or bees of your neighbors;  Oregon’s department of agriculture will pull licenses of pesticide applicators who violate labels so as to endanger the gardens of neighbors.  You may file a complaint directly with them if you see an application in label violation– sprayed when there is a wind that carries the chemicals onto other properties, for instance).

4.  Keep your children and pets away from treated areas–and do not walk in treated areas and wear your clothes and shoes in the house. Such contamination can cause pesticide exposure to be greater indoors than out.

5.  Check the chemicals and labels of pesticides applied by yard services.

6.  To keep honeybees and other pollinators of over one third of our crops safe, never spray or treat plants in bloom– especially blackberries, thistle and dandelion. The latter two are not only a favorite of bees but of goldfinches, who numbers are collapsing.

Lead Shot and Fishing Tackle

Check out cheap, readily available alternatives to lead shot and fishing tackle. Lead shot the size of a BB can poison an eagle;  lead shot in game meat can poison its human consumers.

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Disease Clusters

There are distinctive geographical “disease clusters” linking higher levels of specific diseases to residence near facilities with particular chemical or radioactive outputs. Unfortunately, some of the chemicals responsible for these disease outbreaks include more than one source or a combination of chemicals, making them both more insidious and harder to trace.

These clusters indicate both the necessity of re-assessing an economic system which rewards such toxic releases–and the inequities in toxic chemical release, since many of the toxic hotspots are in low income areas.

Assessing labels

Labels can be very helpful in making healthy and responsible choices.  However, you will also want to avoid “greenwashing”– labels that mean absolutely nothing, such as “natural”, “cage free” or “antibiotic free”.  For an outline of what labels really mean, check out this explanation in the March 2011 Audubon.

And an update  note on labeling:

Once upon a time (in the early 1990s) produce growers agreed to add an “8″ before a four digit produce code to indicate that produce had been genetically engineered.  However, industry did not follow through on this and today the only way to guarantee (for the most part) that you are not consuming genetically engineered food is to buy organic.  Instead Monsanto has been involved in a pitched legal battle to avoid labeling their gmo products– to the extent that they have threatened to sue Vermont if their legislature passes a gmo labeling law.