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Perfect
Lawns, is it worth it? |
by:
Kevin
Doberstein |
Have
you ever been driving down the road with
the windows open going past a golf course
or a field and then you get a strange smell?
A chemical type of odor? Or go walking in
the country and notice a large area, usually
a field, all brown with dead grass. And
next to it, alive green grasses and shrubs?
Chances are you smell a herbicide being
used or you are seeing what it can do to
vegetation.
Then you start to wonder. Are those chemicals
getting into the water table? Is wildlife
eating the "treated" vegetation and insects
tainted with the chemicals? Or maybe we
are taking in the toxins and not even realizing
it. It could possibly be in the foods we
eat, the air we are breathing everyday or
the water that we are drinking.
DDT is a colorless contact insecticide that
is very toxic. It became banned in the early
1970's. Gaylord Nelson, a great environmentalist
while in office in the state of Wisconsin
diliengtly worked to get DDT banned in Wisconsin.
DDT even though restricted is still used
in Mexico to control malaria. The National
Institute of Public Health of Cuernavaca,
Morelos, Mexico concluded from a study that
the use of DDT has been linked to breast
cancer in Mexico. In another study done
by the University of Michigan, it was found
that chemical factory workers that made
DDT also had a high risk of pancreatic cancer
from the overexposure of DDT. Unfortunately,
DDT is still being manufactured and used
in tropical areas for malaria control.
Below are some of the herbicides used today.
This is not a complete listing of all of
the herbicides on the market. The short
term and long term side effects is based
that the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)
goes over a certain marker for parts per
billion (ppb) in the water. For example
Simazine is 4 ppb or 4 parts per billion
in drinking water.
Simazine:
Common Trade names: Herbazine, Herbex, Surflan
General Uses: Corn Crops, Christmas Trees
Amount Used Annually: 4.8 billion pounds
estimated in 1985
Short Term health Effects: weight loss,
changes in blood
Long Term Health Effects: tremors, damage
to testes, kidneys, liver, thyroid, cancer
Ground Water Implications: It may leach
to ground water. It can last from a few
months to years.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Picloram:
Common Trade names: Agent White, Tordon
General Uses: Control annual weeds
Amount Used Annually: 300,000 pounds estimated
in 1982
Short Term health Effects: weight loss,
damage to the nervous system
Long Term Health Effects: liver damage
Ground Water Implications: It may leach
to ground water. It can last from a few
months to years
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Glyphosate:
Common Trade names: Roundup, Sonic, Rodeo,
Tumbleweed,
General Uses: Used on many food crops and
roadsides
Amount Used Annually: 18.7 million pounds
recently
Short Term health Effects: congestion of
the lungs, increases breathing rate
Long Term Health Effects: kidney damage,
reproductive effects
Ground Water Implications: It strongly adheres
to the soil with little potential for leaching
to ground water.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Endothall:
Common Trade names:Accelerate, Endothall
Turf Herbicide, Herbicide 273,
General Uses: Used on many food crops and
control aquatic weeds
Amount Used Annually: 1.5 million pounds
in 1982
Short Term health Effects: depressed breathing
and increase heart rate
Long Term Health Effects: increase size
of some organs.
Ground Water Implications: It can leach
through the soil into the ground water.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Dinoseb:
Common Trade names:Dow Selective Weed Killer,
Hel-fire, Caldon, Knox-weed, Premerge,
General Uses: used for cereal crops
Amount Used Annually: 6.2 million pounds
in 1982
Short Term health Effects: sweating, mood
swings, headache
Long Term Health Effects: decreased body
and thyroid weight, degeneration of testes,.
Ground Water Implications: It can leach
through the soil into the ground water.
Degrades very slowly.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Atrazine:
Common Trade names:Aatex, Candex, Atred,
Cyazin, Griffex Primatol,
General Uses: used for corn and soybean
crops
Amount Used Annually: No figures are known,
2nd highest herbicide used
Short Term health Effects: congestion of
the heart, lungs, and kidneys, low blood
pressure, muscle spasms, weight loss, damage
to adrenal glands
Long Term Health Effects: weight loss, cardiovascular
damage, retinal and muscle degeneration,
and cancer
Ground Water Implications: It can leach
through the soil into the ground water.
Degrades very slowly. Very powerful herbicide.
(EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)
Taking in consideration that municipalities
have their water tested on a regular basis,
this does not take into account the urban
and rural areas with its own private wells.
Generally that is where a lot of herbicide
is used for crops. Also in the city locations
one has to take in account the air you breathe.
About the Author:
Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and nature
while hiking in the Wisconsin great outdoors.
He is also the owner of Nature
Boy Natural Images This web site displays
outdoor wildlife and nature photography.
He also has the Wisconsin
Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog
The Wisconsin Outdoor Recreation and
Wildlife Blog is for promoting and protecting
nature and wildlife resources in the state
of Wisconsin.
If you cite this article, use this description
for reference:
Doberstein, Kevin 2005, Perfect Lawns, Is
it Worth It? The Dangers of Herbicides.
Nature Boy Natural Images
Resources:
University of Michigan School of Public
Health, Ann Arbor 48109-2029.
National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca,
Morelos, Mexico.
The Bioremediation and Phytoremediation
of Pesticide- contaminated Sites Prepared
by Chris Frazar National Network of Environmental
Studies (NNEMS)
EPA Consumer Fact Sheet
About the Author
Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and
nature while hiking in the Wisconsin great
outdoors. He is also the owner of Nature
Boy Natural Images This web site displays
outdoor wildlife and nature photography.
The Wisconsin
Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog
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