Pesticide approved despite warnings, scientists claim

Methyl iodide is often used by
strawberry farmers and may be toxic.

California’s state officials may have ignored warnings coming from their own scientists when they approved the use of the chemical pesticide methyl iodide, according to a recent article published by California Watch.

The scientists have submitted an official protest, warning that the pesticide – which is often used by strawberry growers – may cause brain damage in developing fetuses.

The decision for approval was not based on the science, they charged. Their recommendation that farm workers should not be exposed to more than a trace amount to the pesticide was dismissed by the state official in charge as “excessive and difficult to enforce,” according to internal documents.

The chemical fumigant methyl iodide was approved in December 2010.

A coalition of environmental and farm-worker groups has sued the state to try to ban the chemical.

As part of the suit, the groups asked the Department of Pesticide Regulation to release documents explaining how the agency decided to approve the chemical.

The plaintiffs wanted to know how the agency had settled on exposure levels more than 100 times higher than what scientists within the agency believed were safe.

Scientists worried that methyl iodide could drift up from strawberry fields and be inhaled by pregnant farm workers or children playing nearby, causing subtle effects such as IQ loss, which might never be detected or traced back to the chemical.

"DPR has no benchmark with which to establish the limits of exposures that could be deemed as 'safe' for pregnant women and children living in agricultural communities or attending schools adjacent to fields where methyl iodide will be applied," one of the experts said.

Keep your indoor air clean and safe

Worried about airborne chemicals at your work or home?

Electrocorp has developed a wide range of industrial air cleaners that remove chemicals, odors, fumes, gases, particles, pathogens and allergens from the ambient air.

The air cleaners remove indoor air pollutants with the deepest beds of activated carbon, HEPA filters and UV germicidal filtration (optional). 

Connect with Electrocorp to find out more.
 

Incorrect use, availability of banned pesticides worries experts

Hospital workers are often helpless when
faced with pesticide poisoning.

Industry experts warn that many small shops in Dubai sell pesticides that were banned by the government for being highly dangerous and toxic.

The ministry banned 167 chemicals in 2009 because they could kill people and 32 other substances were regulated so they could only be used by licensed operators.

The warning comes after a series of deadly events where consumers sprayed their homes or apartments with pesticides.

It can also affect residents in nearby places, as the death of two five-month-old babies showed. The boys died after inhaling pesticide fumes from an adjacent flat that had been fumigated.

Using pesticides indoors has long been frowned upon by health authorities because many pesticides have been linked to serious health condition, and death.

Some pesticides banned for high toxicity

One example is methomyl, an insecticide once commonly used on alfalfa grass but now banned because it is too dangerous. Despite the ban, it is sold illegally in many small shops and on the black market in Dubai.

Diazinon, once used to kill cockroaches, ants and fleas, is another example of a banned substance easily available on the black market.

Phostoxin tablets, although not banned for use by professionals, are restricted.

Still, the tablets are finding their way into the hands of the public, who use them without safety measures. The tablets release phosphine gas, which is lethal to many animals even in low concentrations.

False labeling and long-term effects most worrisome

False labeling is another worrying trend in the country. The practice can be dangerous for users, who need to know exactly what substances they are using, especially in cases of emergency.

If pesticides are inhaled or ingested, hospitals check the chemical's packaging to know exactly what treatment to offer.

While cases of death and grave injury attract the most public attention, the real danger in misusing pesticides lies in the long-term effects.

The fact that a person is not suffering symptoms immediately after handling banned pesticides does not mean they are out of danger. Serious health symptoms can develop years after exposure, and they are difficult to trace back.

Source: The National


Improve the indoor air quality at home and at work

Electrocorp’s mission is to provide commercial and industrial air cleaners that remove the widest range of indoor air pollutants, including chemicals, gases, vapors, fumes, odors, particles and pathogens.

Find out more about our multistage filtration system with activated carbon, HEPA and UV.

Contact Electrocorp for more information and a personal consultation: 1-866-667-0297. Always consult an expert when handling potentially dangerous chemicals.
  

Blood cancers more likely if you grew up on a livestock farm

Researchers found a link between blood cancer
risk and growing up on a livestock farm.

Growing up on a livestock farm seems to be linked to an increased risk of developing blood cancers as an adult, indicates research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In a public release by the British Medical Journal, researchers warned that the risk of developing a blood cancer was three times as high for those who had grown up on a poultry farm, according to their study.

The link to blood cancers has been examined before, but mostly by looking at adult farmers, they said.

Pesticides, chemicals and infections may be to blame

Possible explanations have focused on exposure to pesticides or infections as a result of contact with farm animals. Most of this research has focused on adults, with little information on potential early life factors.

The authors base their findings on an analysis of more than 114,000 death certification records from 1998 to 2003 for those aged between 35 and 85 and resident in New Zealand.

Information regarding the deceased's usual job and that of at least one of the parents was extracted for 82% (94,054) of the records.

During the study period, just over 3,000 deaths were attributed to blood cancers, and growing up on a livestock farm was associated with a higher risk of developing such a cancer.

This association was not apparent for those who had grown up on arable/crop farms, although working on one of these farms as an adult was associated with a higher risk.

Poultry farms associated with greatest risks

Poultry farms conferred the greatest risk, with those who had grown up in this environment three times as likely to develop a blood cancer as those who had not.

The authors caution that further studies will be needed before a definitive cause and effect can be established, but they say that their study "suggests that farming exposures in adulthood and childhood play independent roles in the development of haematological cancers."

They go on to say that exposure to particular types of virus in childhood may alter the immune system response, so increasing the risk of blood cancer in later life.

Scrub the air with portable air cleaners

RSU Series: Industrial-strength
air cleaners for chemicals, particles

As a farmer or hands-on workers, it is often difficult to avoid exposure to potentially harmful substances.

Electrocorp has designed a variety of stand-alone, industrial-strength air filtration systems that can remove a wide range of airborne chemicals, gases, fumes, odors, particles and live contaminants such as bacteria, viruses and mold.

Electrocorp specializes in customizable, highly efficient and reliable air cleaners for spaces of any size. They are equipped with the largest activated carbon filters, HEPA filters and UV germicidal filtration (optional).

The company's client portfolio includes high-profile hospitals, government agencies, law enforcement agencies, army, universities, labs and more.

Contact one of Electrocorp’s air quality experts to find the right solution for your interior space: 1-866-667-0297.
 

China bans 10 toxic pesticides after multiple food scares

Toxic pesticides can affect human health.

Exposure to chemicals and pesticides in particular has been linked to a variety of health problems.


Some, such as the organophosphates and carbamates, affect the nervous system. Others may irritate the skin or eyes. Some pesticides may be carcinogens. Others may affect the hormone or endocrine system in the body. EPA's human health risk assessments for many pesticides are available on the web. 

In essence, the level of risk is dependent on the level of toxicity and exposure.

Many countries have banned some of the most toxic pesticides, as their risks outweigh any positive associations they may have. Now China adds 10 more pesticides to its list.

Food safety concerns linked to pesticides

A recent China Daily article says that China is banning 10 types of highly toxic pesticide in response to growing concern about the safety of agricultural products because of the misuse of such chemicals, quoting the country's top crop production officials.

The withdrawal of registration certificates and production licenses connected to the 10 pesticides - including fenamiphos and fonofos - will take effect on Oct 31 and the sale and use of the chemicals will be outlawed from Oct 31, 2013, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The announcement was based on a plan for the elimination of highly toxic pesticides jointly drafted by the ministry and four other departments.

It is a significant step for China, since China is the world's largest pesticide producer and consumer. Production hit 2.26 million tons in 2009, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The move to the bans came after incidents involving pesticide misuse have created concern among the public about the safety of food.

In February 2010, many provinces banned the sale of cowpeas that had been grown in South China's Hainan province because high levels of the toxic pesticide isocarbophos were detected.

In April 2010, nine residents in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, were poisoned after eating toxic garlic that had been polluted with organic phosphorus.

More training, information needed, officials say

The country launched a campaign to manage the use of highly toxic pesticides in the 1980s. So far, 23 types of highly toxic pesticide have been banned and 19 others must not be used on fruit and vegetables, statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture show.

China currently has 22 types of highly toxic pesticide registered, of which 50,000 tons are produced each year, accounting for 2.5 percent of the country's annual total pesticide production, official figures showed.

Lu Bu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, urged local governments to provide more training to farmers about pesticide use.

"Many farmers believe highly toxic pesticides are useful and do not realize that there are also possible dangers associated with their misuse," he said.

Source: China Daily 

Worried about chemical exposure indoors?

Electrocorp's RAP series:
Serious air cleaners

Electrocorp offers a variety of indoor air filtration systems for the home and office as well as for a wide range of industries, including chemical processing plants, food and produce operations, laboratories, and plants or companies having to deal with heavy odor control.

Electrocorp's air cleaners use the most efficient and most trusted air filtration technologies, such as activated carbon (for chemicals, odors, gases and fumes), HEPA (for particles and dust) and UV germicidal filtration (for bacteria, viruses and mold).

Contact Electrocorp for more information and customizable solutions.
   

Banana workers blame chemical for sterility, health problems

The chemical DBCP was banned
in the US in the late 1970s.

In a major health and safety complaint, Latin American banana workers have filed a series of lawsuits against company giants such as Shell Oil, Dole Food Company and Dow Chemical, among others, for exposure to a harmful pesticide between 1960 and 1985.

The banana farmers from Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica allege they have been exposed to the chemical dipromochloropropane, commonly known as DBCP.

It was sold under the trade names Fumazone, Nemagon and Oxy 12.

The workers injected the chemical into the soil or sprayed it on the plantations to protect the produce against microscopic worms called nematodes.

They were exposed to the toxic chemical for more than two decades and suffer varying degrees of sterility, the lawsuits claim.

The chemical, which has long been banned from use in the United States, has also been linked with cancer, miscarriages, corneal damage, chronic skin disorders and renal system failure.

In the case of the banana workers, the inability to have children also left them stigmatized in their communities, where large families are the norm, the claims say.

The lawyer who is bringing the cases to US courts says they have evidence that the companies knew well in advance of the chemical’s harmful side-effects.

The claim quotes a confidential animal testing report from Shell, prepared by its consultant toxicology expert in 1958, which said that “among the rats that died, the gross legions were especially prominent in lungs, kidneys and testes”, and the report concluded that “Testes were extremely atrophied.”

Subsequent tests also allegedly showed that DBCP was "readily absorbed through the skin and high in toxicity in inhalation" and that "testicular atrophy may result from prolonged, repeated exposure."

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified DBCP as a suspected carcinogen in 1976, and the chemical was banned in the United States by 1979. However, the lawsuits claim that use of the chemical continued on some plantations until the 1990s.

Source: Courthouse News Service, The Independent


Worried about chemical exposure?

Electrocorp has designed air filtration systems to improve the indoor air quality for workers in chemical processing plants, warehouses, and many other industrial and commercial uses.

The air cleaners use a very deep bed of activated carbon to remove chemicals, gases, fumes and irritating odors from the air.

Contact Electrocorp for more information.


Related articles

• Nail Salon Workers Affected by Chemicals (feelinghealthynet.wordpress.com)
• Neighbors oppose strawberry farms' fumigant use (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• BP Gulf Coast Workers Experience Health Issues; BP Then and Now; A Follow up to Oil and Gas Companies Using Chemicals That can Effect our Nervous System and Cause Cancer since at Least Since 2005 (fredericacade.wordpress.com)

Working near fields sprayed with pesticides increases risk of Parkinson’s disease, researchers say

Working near fields sprayed with
pesticides can be a health risk.

First they said living close to fields sprayed with two common pesticides could increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Now a follow-up study shows that working nearby increases the risk substantially, especially if exposure involves a combination of pesticides, and that the risk also includes a third commonly used pesticides.

The chemicals in question are the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat as well as the pesticide ziram.


What are pesticides?

Chemical pesticides are often used on fields and grass to prevent or exterminate pests.

But while they may protect crops from insect or other infestation, many of these pesticides have been shown to be toxic to humans as well.

According to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, 10 of the 12 most dangerous and persistent organic chemicals are pesticides.

Pesticides and health: Side effects of pesticides

Exposure to pesticides can lead to immediate or delayed health effects, including irritation of the skin and eyes.

Some pesticides have also been linked to nervous system disorders, reproductive challenges and cancer.

Pesticide use can contaminate non-target species, air, water and soil and therefore expose people in many ways.


Working near pesticides

The new study looked at where people, including teachers, firefighters and clerks who worked near, but not in, the fields.

The study showed that the combined exposure to ziram, maneb and paraquat near any workplace increased the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) threefold, while combined exposure to ziram and paraquat alone was associated with an 80 percent increase in risk.

"Our estimates of risk for ambient exposure in the workplaces were actually greater than for exposure at residences," said Dr. Beate Ritz, senior author and a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.

"And, of course, people who both live and work near these fields experience the greatest PD risk. These workplace results give us independent confirmation of our earlier work that focused only on residences, and of the damage these chemicals are doing."

In addition, Ritz noted, this is the first study that provides strong evidence in humans that the combination of the three chemicals confers a greater risk of Parkinson's than exposure to the individual chemicals alone.

Because these pesticides affect different mechanisms leading to cell death, they may act together to increase the risk of developing the disorder: Those exposed to all three experienced the greatest increase in risk.

The study has been published in the online edition of the European Journal of Epidemiology.

Source: Science Daily
  

Provide cleaner air in the workplace

Electrocorp cleans the air in all types of industrial and commercial applications, including offices and manufacturing plants.

All of our air filtration systems feature a large amount of activated carbon to filter out airborne chemicals, gases, fumes and odors as well as superior particle filters to protect employees from particles, mold spores and dust.

Contact one of our air quality experts to find the right solution for your workplace.
 

Bed bug pesticide blamed for tourists’ death at Thailand hotel

Indoor air quality in hotels can be problematic.

Hotels often have indoor air quality issues. As we have explained in previous blog posts (see below), guests may encounter mold or humidity problems, allergens, chemicals from harsh cleaning products and off-gassing materials, third-hand smoke and more indoor air pollutants at hotels.

Health problems can include breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, gastrointestinal ailments, skin rashes, severe allergic reactions and neurological damage.  

But it can get worse.

To contain a growing bed bug problem, a hotel in Thailand allegedly used a poisonous pesticide, one that has been banned in many countries, which may have caused the deaths of at least seven tourists staying there.

Seven people dead after staying at the hotel

According to an article in the Daily Mail, a British couple were among seven tourists whose deaths in Thailand have been linked to a toxic bed bug pesticide used at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai.

An undercover investigation revealed shocking evidence linking the deaths between January and March after all seven stayed at or used facilities at the hotel.

Police initially dismissed the mystery deaths as a terrible case of food poisoning caused by eating toxic seaweed from a stall at a bazaar.

Most had very similar symptoms, including myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, suspected to have been caused by food or water contamination.

 Thai authorities have continually maintained the deaths linked to the three-star hotel were coincidence despite repeated claims of a cover-up by families of the victims.

Hotel rooms sprayed with pesticide that was banned from indoor use

A probe by the New Zealand current affairs programme 60 Minutes has revealed the hotel rooms had been sprayed with a potentially lethal toxin called pyrophus, which has been banned from indoor use in many other countries.

Reporters posing as hotel guests secretly took samples from the fifth floor room where New Zealand backpacker Sarah Carter, 23, died in February.

Test results found small traces of an insecticide called chlorpyrifos (CY) inside the room - a chemical that is used to get rid of bed bugs.

Thai police recently raided the company in charge of eradicating insects at the hotel and Chiang Mai’s head of public health suspects the pest controllers could have made a mistake.

‘It's possible that they mixed together the wrong chemicals,’ Dr Surasing Visaruthrat said.

According to the article, United Nations chemical expert, Dr Ron McDowall, said he was confident Miss Carter's symptoms and death were linked to CY poisoning.

‘Their reaction was that it is clear, it's CY poisoning - we've seen it before, the symptoms are the same, the pathology is the same and the proxy indicates that the chemical was in the room,’ Dr McDowall said.

‘I think she’s been killed by an overzealous sprayer who has been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with the bed bugs.’

Chemical gets absorbed quickly

Dr McDowall added that the poisoning is difficult to confirm from blood samples making tests done on Miss Carter useless: ‘The chemical is absorbed by the body very quickly. It only has a half-life of a day so it can be very hard to predict the event.’

The popular tourist destination of Chiang Mai, 430 miles north of Bangkok, is one of Thailand’s most culturally significant cities, nestled among the highest mountains in the country.

Source: Daily Mail

Electrocorp has designed industrial-strength air filtration systems for the hospitality industry. 

Contact us for more information.
 


Related posts

• Allergen-free hotels - a home away from home for those with allergies
• Secondhand smoke in casinos a health risk, study reveals
• Traveling? Take note of the indoor air quality in your hotel

 

Bed bugs: Cleaning up after the cleanup

Firm fined, ordered to clean up homes it treated with hazardous chemicals to combat bed bugs

Sometimes, doing wrong comes back to bite you.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Jan. 31 fined a pest control company $860,000 for using hazardous pesticides to combat bed bugs in residential homes.
TVF Pest Control used dangerous chemicals in at least 50 homes in the first half of 2010, according to the report in The Jersey Journal.

Pesticides not approved for indoor use
The DEP investigation found that the company used Malathion and Carbaryl in the homes, even though the two pesticides have not been approved for indoor use. They can be absorbed through the skin and cause symptoms such as headaches, nausea and dizziness, muscle twitching and vomiting.

Exposure has been linked to chronic health effects
Pesticides are among the most widely used chemicals in the world, and also among the most dangerous to human health, as said by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Exposure to pesticides can lead to chronic health effects. In this case, the firm used two widely used insecticides that are deployed in agriculture and residential landscaping. They should not have been used indoors, and it’s sad to think that the residents of these 50 homes were exposed to them in the first place.

Health organizations warn against using pesticides to treat bed bugs
The US Environmental Protection Agency recently released a stark warning against using pesticides to treat bed bugs, saying it is dangerous for humans and doesn't solve the problem.

Companies that use any kinds of chemicals inside of buildings have to make sure that the air is clean and not laced with dangerous contaminants. Industrial-strength air purifiers from Electrocorp have been used successfully by contractors in various applications.

Contact us today for a customized product recommendation: 1-866-667-0297