Spring is Here, So are Pesticides

by Guy Dauncey

It’s spring. Tree frogs are frogging, birds are singing, and the leaves of a billion flowers, trees, shrubs and trees are unfolding.

Meanwhile, across our cities and rural acreages, farmers, landscapers, golf-course managers, apartment caretakers and home owners are reaching for their pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, ready to attack nature in their quest for The Perfect Lawn.

Item: In North America and Europe, childhood cancer is rising by 1% a year. About a third of these cancers are leukemia.

Item: In France, a 2006 study by the National Institute for Medical Research found that children who were exposed to garden insecticides and fungicides were more than twice as likely to develop acute leukemia.

A similar level of risk was present among the children of mothers who had used insecticides in the home while pregnant and/or long after the birth, and with the use of insecticidal shampoos for head lice. Parkinsonys disease has also been linked to the use of pesticides.

Change of frame. Young couples (plus the not so young) are also doing the birds and the bees thing y some hoping to make a baby. But why is it so difficult?

In the US, women under 25 are the fastest growing age-group of women with impaired fertility. In 2005, the US Centers for Disease Control found that 7 million couples (12%) were unable to conceive and carry a child to term; this had increased by 20% in ten years.

In Denmark, a 2006 study found that as many as 30% of young Danish men have low sperm counts, and 10% may be infertile.

Item: In Wisconsin, a study found that infertile women were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides in the two years prior to attempting conception than those who were fertile. An Italian study linked the decreased sperm quality of tollbooth workers to their exposure to vehicle exhaust. The problem is also being linked to our exposure to brominated flame retardants and plastic-softening chemicals such as bisphenol A.

Cancer, infertility – what’s next?

Autism – or autism spectrum disorder – among children. There’s no clear sign what’s causing it yet (the mercury in vaccines link has not been proven), but something is clearly wrong when one child in 150 is being diagnosed with this distressing disease. It can’t be genetic: genetic change takes generations to show up. It’s got to be something from the environment, either during pregnancy, or earlier.

Then there’s asthma. In Canada, childhood asthma jumped by 35% between 1994 and 1999. It used to be rare: now it’s common. Pollen and dust have always been with us – so what has changed?

Studies show that air pollution from busy traffic brings a 2-fold increased risk; the presence of phthalate chemicals from plastics and PVC flooring in the dust in children’s bedrooms brings a 2 to 3-fold increased risk; fumes from air fresheners, furniture polish and household cleaners bring a 4-fold increased risk; exposure to herbicides and pesticides brings a 10-fold increased risk.

And mental health. The same farming methods that use chemical pesticides and fertilizers deplete the food of minerals and trace elements that are essential for a healthy brain. In Britain, Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, found that addressing mental health problems with changes in diet showed better results than counseling or drugs.

Even the tiniest of clues can point us in a different direction. The clear, sweet apple juice that is sold in stores has had the polyphenols that protect against cancer taken out of it. Cloudy apple juice, which contains more pulp, contains up to four times more polyphenols. The presence of scabs on an apple means it has been exposed to disease, stimulating the apple tree to create phytonutrients to fight it.

Where is this journey headed? It could take a turn into the realm of perfumes, 80% to 90% of which are synthesized from petroleum, and which release neurotoxins that have been linked to headaches, confusion, anxiety, short-term memory loss, and central nervous system disorders.

Our bodies are ecosystems that are every bit as incredible as the Great Bear Rainforest or the Amazon. When you add up the accumulating impacts, our carelessness with toxic chemicals is like the chainsaws that clearcut their way through the subtle and complex biochemistry of our bodies.

The solutions start with the determination to act. Sweden has set a goal to eliminate all hazardous chemicals by 2020. Massachusetts has a highly successful Toxics Use Reduction Act. Britain has set a goal to increase the amount of organic food grown locally to 70% by 2010. We could be doing this kind of thing in Canada, too.

The reality of global climate change has given the world a wake-up call y and people are now saying “What do we do?” Thereys another wake-up call due soon – on the pollution within.