OP
restricted in Oz
The Australian National Registration Authority
(NRA) has cancelled all non-essential uses of the organophosphate insecticide
mevinphos. Limited use on brassica crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and
Brussels sprouts) will be allowed until the end of 1998, while alternatives are
developed. Phosdrin Insecticide (containing mevinphos) was used extensively to
control the Diamond Back Moth in brassicas, a crop worth an annual Aus$25
million (US$30 million) in exports.
This decision is part of the first review concluded by the
NRA under its Existing Chemicals Review Program. Review Manager, Dr Joe Smith
said: "The review has confirmed that mevinphos poses unacceptable risks to the
health of people who mix, load and apply this insecticide." He added: "As
users are already required to wear extensive protective clothing when working
with mevinphos, the NRA does not believe that adding extra controls, such as
enclosed mixing systems, would substantially reduce exposure."
Only suitably qualified people, trained in the handling of
toxic chemicals will be allowed to purchase and use mevinphos. Users will have
to demonstrate that they are complying with these restrictions. Monitoring of
the health of users will also be required.
The review has also confirmed that mevinphos is extremely
toxic to birds, mammals, aquatic invertebrates and insects.
A Public Release Summary containing
details of the review is available free of charge. A Technical Report is also
available (Aus$ 30). Chemical Review Section, NRA, 1997, Australia.
Spanish
campaign
Recent discoveries about the hormonal effects of
pesticides and the uncertainties posed by genetic manipulation has increased
fears among the general public in Spain surrounding the health and environmental
effects of pesticides.
Local environmental groups, ADENA, WWF Spain, CODA and Vida
Sana, have organised a joint campaign to alert the public over problems posed by
pesticides and promote debate among consumers about the way the food they eat is
produced. The campaign was inaugurated at Biocultura 1996 in Madrid where
representatives read out a manifesto lamenting the human deaths and
environmental pollution caused by pesticides and called on governments to stop
backing the destructive agricultural policies which rely on pesticides. A debate
was held featuring a panel which included Dianne Dumanoski, co-author of Our
Stolen Future (which has been published in Spanish as part of the campaign).
The campaign has generated much media attention, and a
petition against the use of pesticides has so far collected 10,000 signatures.
Boletin de la Asscociacion Vida Sana,
Barcelona, Spain, 1997.
Pesticide
fire kills three US firefighters
Three firefighters were killed and dozens of
people were injured in West Helena, Arkansas, when a smouldering bag of the
pesticide azinphos-methyl exploded as firefighters attempted to smother it with
foam, according to news reports.
The explosion occurred about 1 pm Thursday, 8 May at a
chemical packaging plant owned by BPS, Inc., triggering a huge fire with
150-foot flames. As toxic smoke billowed above the plant, a hospital one mile
away was evacuated and more than 18,000 people were told to stay inside their
homes with their doors and windows shut. All 65 of the plant's employees were
outside when the explosion occurred.
The poisonous agricultural pesticides methomyl and
thiophanate were also involved in the fire, an Arkansas pollution control
official said. BPS's owner said that prior to the explosion the 300-pound
(135kg) sack of azinphos-methyl, about the size of a backyard dustbin, had
generated enough heat to set off the plant's sprinklers.
An EPA spokesman said that the bag of azinphos-methyl could
not have exploded unless it was heated and decomposed into flammable parts.
"We don't know what the heat source was. We're really kind of mystified
about what caused the decomposition," Ky Nichols said.
Residents and firefighters were given shots of atropine as an
antidote to counter adverse effects from breathing toxic gases, state health
officials said.
West Helena is on the Mississippi River about 60 miles south
of Memphis, Tennessee in the south-central region of the United States. Crews
built a dirt levee around the plant to prevent poisonous rainwater from draining
into the Mississippi River.
Air, highway and river traffic were temporarily suspended in
the area around the plant following the fire. Officials declared the air safe by
Friday afternoon.
USA Today 9/5/97, Sun-Sentinel, 9/5/97.
OECD
environmental indicators
What are the impacts both harmful and beneficial,
of agriculture on the environment: and how do different policy measures affect
the environment? Little quantitative information is available to help answer
these questions, and a major effort is now under-way in the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to develop a set of agri-environment
indicators. Environmental Indicators for Agriculture outlines a number of
factors: the use of nutrients; pesticides and water; land use and conservation;
water and soil quality; greenhouse gases; biodiversity; wildlife habitats;
landscape; and farm management.
The OECD approach involves classifying pesticides into
different environmental risk categories, in relation to the relative quantities
used. This method combines data on pesticide use with mobility, persistence and
toxicity indices.
Data on pesticide usage, in tonnes of active ingredients, are
available for most countries. However, it is difficult to compare data between
countries, because of the wide range of pesticide properties that exist. Most
countries have yet to develop a 'pesticide risk classification system' both
in terms of the usage data and environmental risk. Work is now under-way in OECD
member countries to develop such a classification system through the OECD
Pesticide Forum, and related work on pesticides.
The OECD will assess other indicators of environmental
concern such as impacts of pesticides on water and soil quality, wildlife, farm
pest management, human health from spraying, and contamination of food products.
OECD, Environmental Indicators for
Agriculture, Publications Service, OECD, 2 Rue Andre-Pascal, 75016 Paris,
France, 1997, 62pp.
The end at last
Velsicol Chemical Company of the US is to halt
production of the Dirty Dozen pesticides chlordane and heptachlor at its plant
in Memphis, Tennessee. Velsicol has manufactured these organochlorine
insecticides since the 1940s. Both are classified as probable human carcinogens
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They also persist in the
environment for decades.
Velsicol's decision comes 20 years after the EPA banned
their agricultural uses and 10 years after the Agency banned most of their urban
uses. Since 1987, Velsicol has continued to produce and export several million
pounds of chlordane and heptachlor around the world.
Mothers and Others, 16/5/97.
Herbicide
cutbacks
Californian environmentalists have successfully
campaigned for herbicide-free roads in some areas of the State. In March,
Caltrans, the State transport agency, announced that it would halt spraying on
highways in the region at the behest of local governments. This means that 800
miles of highway are herbicide-free across Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, and
the city of Arcata.
Californians for Alternatives to Toxics lobbied for this
decision because Caltrans is the largest user of pesticides in the State. It
manages 230,000 acres of roadside verges along 15,000 miles of highway, and
spends US$ 30 million a year on weed control, which until recently mostly
included herbicide use.
Californians for Alternatives to Toxics,
860 1/2 11th Street, Arcata, CA 95521, US.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 36,
June 1997, page 17]