Small doses

Flags of inconvenience
New York State, under a legislative agreement reached in June 2000, became the first US state to require homeowners to post warning flags to alert their neighbours when they use pesticides on their lawns.
    ‘Parents and homeowners have the right to know when pesticides are being used so that they can take reasonable and necessary precautions to safeguard their children, pets and themselves from unnecessary exposure to these chemicals,’ said Senator Carl Marcellino of Long Island, a co-sponsor of the legislation. 
    Under the legislation, homeowners will have to post warning flags around their property prior to using pesticides, while commercial users must provide written notice. Also, counties will have an option of requiring 48-hour notice by homeowners and commercial applicators to alert their neighbours within 150 feet (46 metres) whenever certain applications are used. Schools will have until autumn 2001 to comply with the new rules.
    Local environmentalists hailed the new agreement, while the members of the chemical application industry said they were dissatisfied with the measure.
Reuters News Service, 20 June 2000.

Contamination of ginseng supplements
Out of 22 brands of ginseng dietary supplements evaluated by ConsumerLab.com in the US, eight were found to contain high levels of specific pesticides. Some also contained significant levels of lead.
    Contamination with the pesticides hexachlorobenzene and/or quintozene was found in eight products labelled as ‘Korean Ginseng’. Levels of both pesticides were as much as 20 times higher than allowed by guidelines published by the US Pharmacopeia and the European Pharmacopeia. 
    Hexachlorobenzene is a probable human carcinogen and has been banned from most food crop uses throughout the world. Quintozene is a possible carcinogen, and will be banned for use in the European Union from 2003. 
PRNewswire, 11 July 2000.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.49, September 2000, p19]