Bushkill Farms & Apiary

Study: Home Pesticides Linked to Childhood Cancer

rob — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:22:36 +0000

Rates of a rare leukemia are higher among children who show evidence of exposure to insect killers.
As if links to Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and obesity, cancer, low sperm counts and other reproductive health problems, and childhood developmental problems and diseases were not enough … or that pesticide residue is common on foods, or that that children are even more susceptible than previously thought, or that pesticides stick around in the home for decades after being used, or that the EPA is slow to remove known toxic pesticides from the market, and doesn’t require chemical makers to even list toxic “inert” ingredients … now there’s another reason to avoid using pesticides around the home.

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Pesticide-Chemical Mixtures Affect Sex Organ Development

rob — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:55:13 +0000

A new study by researchers at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark shows that exposure to a mixture of pesticides and other chemicals has a synergistic effect on the development of male sex organs. Synergy occurs when the effect of multiple chemicals is greater than the sum of the individual effects. The study, “Synergistic Disruption of External Male Sex Organ Development by a Mixture of Four Antiandrogens,” was published July 15, 2009 in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.

Study Finds Controversial Pesticide May Contribute to Obesity

rob — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:16:36 +0000

Tributyltin (also known as TBT), a ubiquitous pollutant that has a potent effect on gene activity, could be promoting obesity, according to an article in the December issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The chemical is used in antifouling paints for boats, as a wood and textile preservative, and as a pesticide on high-value food crops, among many other applications.

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Pesticide mixes: when 1 + 1 does not equal 2

rob — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:11:31 +0000

A mix of two pesticides had greater toxic effects on exposed salmon than would be expected from one separately, adding to concerns that health risks from pesticides are underestimated.

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Warning: this pesticide may be toxic to children and fish

rob — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:48:24 +0000

This fall, EPA approved re-registration of antibacterial soap ingredient triclosan for yet another five years of use in consumer products, potentially leaving human and environmental health at great risk.

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Working with pesticides impacts women’s fertility

rob — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:06:33 +0000

Women with potential exposure to pesticides at work or at home took longer to get pregnant than women without pesticide connections.

Pregnant women living in a migrant, farmworker community in California participated in the study. Although all women were pregnant, women who worked in agriculture, lived within 200 feet of agriculture fields or used pesticides in their home took significantly longer to conceive than those who did not have these pesticide exposures.

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Toxic contamination starts at home

rob — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:42:37 +0000

When women from 120 middle-class homes learned their bodies contained low levels of toxic chemicals, most of them blamed chemical spills, waste dumping or secret military experiments.

They were stunned to learn the truth was closer to home. Most of their exposure came from harmless-looking plastics, flame-retardant clothing, beauty products and household cleaners.

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US Biologists Say 3 Common Pesticides Harm Salmon

rob — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:40:34 +0000

Farms and orchards that continue to use three pesticides that harm salmon will have to greatly expand buffer zones around their fields so the chemicals don’t reach streams, federal biologists ruled Tuesday.

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Breast Cancer Risk in Hawaii Linked to Pesticides in Drinking Water and Indoor Air

rob — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:38:04 +0000

Pesticides leach into the Hawaii ground water system and end up in our drinking water. The warm tropical sun causes the pesticides to evaporate and enter the building through gaps in the foundation and infect breathing spaces inside the homes and schools and office buildings. Not only cancer but many respiratory diseases are caused by pesticides. Controlling insects with pesticides is a huge risk to drinking water and indoor air quality in Hawaii, and ultimately to matters of life and death to the public in Hawaii.

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Pollution comes home and gets personal: Women’s experience of household chemical exposure

rob — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:34:23 +0000

Although Americans are becoming increasingly aware of toxic chemical exposure from everyday household products like bisphenol A in some baby bottles and lead in some toys, women do not readily connect typical household products with personal chemical exposure and related adverse health effects, according to research from the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

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