Pesticides | The Canary Report

AP and MSNBC stink when it comes to properly reporting on chemical sensitivities

Posted by Susie

Mar 152011

Yo! MSNBC Web editor: this AP story about disability accommodation for people with chemical sensitivity belongs in the HEALTH section, not the WEIRD NEWS section.

MSNBC thinks toxic chemical- and fragrance-free legislation is weird news.

MSNBC.com reports Nevada legislation raises stink over air fresheners, a story from the Associated Press. The AP report says Las Vegas Democratic Assemblyman Paul Aizley on Monday proposed legislation that would set restrictions on pesticides, fragrances and candles to accommodate people with chemical sensitivities (here’s a link to the bill). With a cutsie-pie play on words in the title, and placing the report in the “Weird news” section, the AP and MSNBC, each feeding off the lousy reporting of the other, manage to trivialize chemical sensitivity and insult those suffering from it in one fell swoop.

Neon sign reading "Welcome to Las Vegas."

Welcome to Las Vegas, where a cocktail waitress who experiences respiratory distress when exposed to scent marketing products is "weird news," according to MSNBC.

Proponents said air fresheners give them migraines or asthma attacks and prevent them from going to the movies or to restaurants. A cocktail waitress at a casino said inhaling the fragrances piped through the ventilation system felt like a concrete slab on her chest.

In other words, according to MSNBC, migraines and asthma attacks brought on by exposure to toxic chemicals are just WEIRD. And it is SO weird when a worker experiences respiratory distress from a scent marketing machine. People with chemical sensitivities? WEIRDOS.

It’s unconscionable the way the media continuously seeks to discredit people with chemical sensitivities through trivializing and marginalizing the illness. On top of that, these types of reports continuously describe toxic chemical-free and fragrance-free policy as related to smell, odors, and “stink.” The truth is, chemical sensitivities have nothing to do with odors or our sense of smell, it is an illness initiated by toxic chemicals found in everyday consumer goods (such as pesticides, fragrances and candles listed in Aizley’s proposed legislation). I guess it’s impossible for reporters to get this simple point correct.

Shoddy reporting like this does a disservice to everyone, not just people with chemical sensitivity. Clean indoor air is everyone’s business; everyone has a right to breathe fresh, unpolluted indoor air. Bravo to Assemblyman Aizley and others working to end sources of indoor pollution.

Las Vegas sign photo credit.

Thanks to Sal for link to bill!

U.S. government launches website for consumers to report and search product safety complaints

Posted by Susie

Mar 132011

The government launched a public database Friday that allows people to report and search safety complaints on thousands of products — from cribs and toys to power tools and hair dryers.

Contra Costa Times reports that a public database for safety complaints goes live.

WASHINGTON — Despite a last-minute attempt to derail it, the government launched a public database Friday that allows people to report and search safety complaints on thousands of products — from cribs and toys to power tools and hair dryers.

SaferProducts.gov, overseen by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, went live as scheduled over the objections of manufacturers and a stalled GOP effort on Capitol Hill to withhold money for the project until critics’ concerns were addressed.

The database allows people to file reports of injury or potential harm about household products, baby gear and more. In the coming weeks, as consumers file reports with the agency, people will be able to search for safety complaints about specific items they might have in their homes or want to purchase.

“Through SaferProducts.gov, consumers will have open access to product safety information that they have never seen before and the information will empower them to make safer choices,” Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the consumer safety agency, told The Associated Press.

But manufacturers, congressional Republicans and others charge the public database will be replete with bogus reports and misleading information.

We should flood them with complaints about the toxic chemicals in consumer goods that are severely impacting our health: toxic building materials, electronics, laundry products, fragranced products, household pesticides and cleaning products, mattresses, furniture, fabrics, clothing…

Thanks Linda!

Healthy Home Checklist from the Environmental Working Group

Posted by Susie

Nov 242010

This is a great resource for people new to Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and for all of us to share with friends family!

A dual kitchen-laundry room with a box of laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies.

It looks like this dual purpose kitchen-laundry room could use some help with eliminating toxic products. Can you imagine cooking food next to that laundry detergent? They need the Environmental Working Group's Healthy Home Checklist!

As usual, the Environmental Working Group is on the same page as people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity:

Have you ever given your house a once-over for environmental health? The Environmental Working Group’s Healthy Home Checklist is a quick and effective way to get a sense of what changes are most important — and how to make them (if you haven’t already!). Working from this kind of list can add perspective to the seemingly endless toxic updates we hear in the news.

Ready to create an eco-healthy home?

We created this Healthy Home Checklist for you to use as you walk through your home — and open your bathroom cabinet, look under your sink, and check those laundry supplies. It’s an easy, hands-on way to create a less toxic environment for your family. When you’re done, you’ll breathe easier (literally!) knowing that you’ve tackled the toxics that matter most in your home.

Before you get started, get the basics from EWG’s Vice President for Research, Jane Houlihan, who helped a Maryland family identify the toxic chemicals in their home on this televised home visit:

Check your house for common toxic chemicals and choose safer alternatives with this simple checklist for less toxic living.

Getting together with family for Thanksgiving? Give everyone a copy of the checklist!

Link to Environmental Working Group‘s home page.

Photo credit.

Pesticide Action Network asks you to take the pledge: VOTE!

Posted by Susie

Oct 282010

From a draft law targeting persistent chemicals to phaseout of pesticides like endosulfan, momentum is building – with your help! – toward a healthier future. What happens on Tuesday could mean another step forward, or two giant steps back.

VOTE!

Pesticide Action Network asks you to Take the Pledge: VOTE!

Some elections matter more than others. This one’s a doozey.

Across the country, there’s a lot on the line. In New Hampshire, a law protecting kids from pesticides in schools hangs in the balance. In California, the oil industry is trying to take down the state’s climate change law at the ballot box. And on Capitol Hill, the potential for real progress on chemicals, health and immigration is in jeopardy. The stakes are high.

Take the Pledge! Commit to vote. Plain and simple. And urge your friends & family to do the same. No matter where you live or what’s on your local ballot, your vote will make a difference.

This political season has been a bit of a circus: loud and angry rhetoric, corporate spending off the charts, name-calling worse than usual. It would be tempting to sit this one out. Please don’t.

Political observers are saying turnout will be the key in races around the country. In Nevada, a Republican-linked group called Latinos for Reform even ran an ad (in Spanish) urging Latino voters to send a message to Washington by not voting! They know exactly how important voter turnout will be.

Having the right people in office doesn’t guarantee progress, but it does make it possible. From a draft law targeting persistent chemicals to phaseout of pesticides like endosulfan, momentum is building – with your help! – toward a healthier future. What happens on Tuesday could mean another step forward, or two giant steps back.

Thank you so much for making your voice heard!

Click here to sign the petition and take the pledge to vote!

Pesticide Action Network North America (PAN North America, or PANNA) works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. As one of five PAN Regional Centers worldwide, we link local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens’ action network. This network challenges the global proliferation of pesticides, defends basic rights to health and environmental quality, and works to ensure the transition to a just and viable society.

Video: Pesticide use can only be detrimental

Posted by Susie

Oct 142010

Cleverly done French video about the dangers of pesticides. The depiction of smaller penises in males caused by endocrine disruptors in pesticides is priceless. Wake up, boys!

L’emploi des pesticides ne peut que nuire.

Chirps for September 28

Posted by Susie

Sep 282010

Here are some websites and reports I’ve stumbled on this week that I thought you might find interesting, too.

Three photos of tiny homes, one a traditional cabin of stone, and two like cabins, but made of wood and mobile.

Tiny Green Cabins are earth friendly cabins, tiny houses, and small homes. Some can be made to specs suitable for many with chemical sensitivities.

I took a look at the Tiny Green Cabins website. We have a couple of members on our network who are building this type of home.

The Californian reports a judge told Target to stop illegally dumping pesticides, paints, drain cleaners and other chemicals.

USA Today reports on the top 10 toxins and how to protect your family.

La Vida Locavore reports on chemicals in your clothing. There’s a great discussion in the comment section, too.

The David Suzuki Foundation reports on the “Dirty Dozen” cosmetic chemicals to avoid. I highly recommend the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database to find nontoxic cosmetics.

The Los Angeles Times reports mammograms are found to be less crucial in preventing deaths. I still get one every 2-5 years since I had breast cancer. I mostly count on a self exam every month. In fact, that’s how I found my tumor was by a self exam; the mammogram never did show the tumor even though they took over a dozen images.

Jerry Cope at HuffPo reports No Safe Harbor on Gulf Coast; Human Blood Tests Show Dangerous Levels of Toxic Exposure.

Closer to home, I discovered my dentist Dr. David Doi, who practices biological/holistic dentistry, has a website!

And I also discovered the Hawaii Society of Naturopathic Physicians has a great website with lots of information about naturopathic medicine and who’s practicing in Hawaii.

Home buyers with chemical sensitivities should raise concerns early

Posted by Susie

Sep 192010

From The Washington Post: For people who are seriously allergic or sensitive to common household chemicals, buying the right home is fraught with difficulty. But with a cooperative seller — and some important protections written into the purchase contract — the hazards can be manageable.

A cure white house with a realtor's "For Sale" sign out front on the lawn.

Highly sensitive buyers may need to avoid homes that have had any pesticide treatments; been recently painted; had repairs involving drywall, caulking, adhesives, glues or chemical finishes; had mold or moisture issues; or have elevated levels of radon.

The Washington Post reports that people with serious allergies or sensitivity to common household chemicals should raise their concerns early when buying a home.

Highly sensitive buyers may need to avoid homes that have had any pesticide treatments; been recently painted; had repairs involving drywall, caulking, adhesives, glues or chemical finishes; had mold or moisture issues; or have elevated levels of radon. They may have to avoid homes with carpeting or that had smokers living there or air fresheners in use. Such buyers may think they are unique, but there are many people facing these issues. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy generally defines these concerns as Type I Hypersensitivity disorders, which are also sometimes called atopic allergies. According to the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge in England, some 20 to 30 percent of the population exhibits some Type I Hypersensitivity.

The article goes on to tell you exactly how to proceed with the buying process including the most effective ways to raise concerns, how to create an introductory contract addendum to present to sellers before even touring a home– “it’s a property disclosure and disclaimer form, which all sellers are required to provide to prospective buyers, only in reverse,”– and how to make that addendum a part of the legally binding purchase contract.

The addendum would include more inspection contingencies than the typical termite, radon and general home inspections usually called for in a purchase contract. Buyers will want the legal right to hire an environmental inspector to check for levels of volatile organic compounds found in items such as paint, and for the presence of formaldehyde found in furniture made of pressed wood. Similarly, buyers will want to have a certified mold inspector check for elevated levels of moisture.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see this kind of informational article in The WaPo!

Thanks, Beck!

Photo credit.

Guest Blog: October is Breast Cancer Corruption Month

Posted by Guest Blogger

Sep 172010

As most everyone knows by now October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What most people don’t know is the corporate corruption behind it.

By guest blogger Bobby McClintock, Respiratory & Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii.

A cluster of breast cancer cells showing visual evidence of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Scanning electron micrograph.

The first time I had breast cancer was 1985. When I recovered I wanted so badly to help others with it. I contacted the organization who helped at our hospital. I was told I hadn’t had cancer long enough to help out! I’m still reeling from that one!

As the years went by groups started springing up. I remember when the Susan G. Koman project started I was appalled when I saw Revlon as one of their sponsors. Anyone who really wanted to prevent cancer knew most chemical companies and ALL cosmetic companies, at the time, were contributing to breast cancer from the very products they had. Of course, big mouth that I am, I wrote to them to voice my concern.

Each year when a new group started out to find a cure for cancer, I couldn’t understand why it made me so angry. Everyone wants to cure cancer so why am I annoyed? Because curing cancer presupposes someone must GET cancer, then someone must find a chemical CURE for it and the big pharma/chemical corps/cosmetic/insurance/etc companies all profit from it. I began writing to people thanking them for being so concerned about all of us having cancer. BUT, I’d add, wouldn’t they really want to PREVENT it instead of curing it?

Breast cancer is one of THE most preventable cancers along with others found in fatty tissue (prostate for men, brain for children– not a lot of fatty tissue– the only place for it to go). We KNOW pesticides are one culprit. We KNOW most household chemicals are also building in everyone’s blood and tissue. Until we stop allowing these corporations from manufacturing doubt whenever new research is presented against their products, we will all be fighting cancer in some form.

Right now the statistics here in the US are one in every three people will get cancer in their lifetime. A far cry from our grandparents’ generation when hardly anyone had cancer, or, better yet, used any of the toxic chemicals that are now in our environment.

MAKE THE CONNECTION! Pass information like this along to family and friends. STOP passing around the usual breast cancer BULL that circulates the internet. GET EDUCATED!

If you are truly interested in stopping breast cancer, please visit Think Before You Pink, a project of Breast Cancer Action. In my humble (OK!) opinion, their take on the whole breast cancer problems is the closest to the truth we can get.

So get out there and fight for PREVENTION!!

~~~

Bobby McClintock is founder of the Respiratory and Environmental Disabilities Association of Hawaii, an active clearinghouse for information, which Bobby disseminates through an email list serve. She started the association in the late 1990s when giving testimony at the Hawaii State Legislature against water fluoridation and genetically engineered foods. Bobby first became ill with chemical sensitivities in 1985 after she underwent a breast implant following mastectomy for breast cancer. After a series of misdiagnoses due to the ignorance of her doctors about the problems of implants and the symptoms of chemical sensitivity, Bobby started combing the Internet for answers and discovered her symptoms were consistent with Environmental Illness. In 1989, she found a knowledgeable doctor who properly diagnosed her as having Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. By then disabled, she went through the grievance process with her employer United Airlines, only to have the company abandon her case in 1995. Bobby lives on Oahu with her husband and is a vocal activist for clean, safe air, water and food. “I swam every day, biked everywhere and was a ballet dancer all my life,” she says. “This illness took it all away and it was completely avoidable. So, watch out world, as long as I have a mouth, and boy is it a big one, you won’t shut me up!”

Photo credit.

Exterminators look to highly toxic chemicals to stem the current invasion of bed bugs

Posted by Susie

Sep 052010

Some pest controllers are placing their hopes on resuscitating propoxur, a highly toxic chemical that was phased out of indoor uses because it could cause nervous-system damage in children. But there are other far less toxic ways to address the problem.

Graffiti of a big red bed bug on a white brick building. Underneath the words are spray painted: BED BUGS!

Bed bugs are on the rise! Be sure to explore the use of less toxic measures before automatically going nuclear on the little buggers with highly toxic chemicals.

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are on the rise in the U.S. after near extinction for more than 20 years. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the outbreak is now regarded as a “major problem.” The reason seems to be all the international travel where the varmints are hitching a ride in our luggage.

Once introduced into your home, bed bugs most often live in your mattress and bite you while you are sleeping, although they do not transmit disease. The current increase in cases is causing added concern because the bugs have resistance to the pesticides used 40 years ago like DDT, which is now banned anyway, so some homeowners and exterminators who are not eco-minded are looking to use some highly toxic chemicals. Reports a New York Times editorial:

Some pest controllers are placing their hopes on resuscitating propoxur, a highly toxic chemical that was phased out of indoor uses because it could cause nervous-system damage in children. Ohio and Kentucky have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to allow professional exterminators to use it indoors, and other states may follow suit. The requests are based in part on laboratory tests by a Kentucky entomologist on small groups of bedbugs. Some of today’s leading pesticides could not kill even half of the bugs, while propoxur wiped them all out in two hours. The E.P.A. is studying whether there might be limited situations — a nursing home with no children present — where it could be used.

Propoxur would probably kill better than current pesticides, but nobody expects it could be an all-purpose solution the way DDT once was. Pesticides need to be supplemented with non-chemical options, like heat or steam treatments, vacuuming, tossing infested sheets or clothes into a hot washer or dryer, encasing mattresses to entomb the bugs, and sealing crevices. It is hard to know whether these tactics will be enough to reverse the rapid rise of infestations.

As the editorial says, there are some far less toxic measures that should be explored by anyone faced with an invasion of these bloodsuckers. Says Dr. Andrew Weil, who practices integrative medicine:

Getting rid of bed bugs isn’t easy. They seem to be developing resistance to most natural pesticides, but an entomologist who spoke at the EPA bed bug summit said that one still seems to work: a plant oil called IC2 made by EcoExempt. Another relatively new natural product, Nature’s Avenger Bedbug Killer, contains peppermint and clove as the active ingredients. (The fact that a pesticide is natural doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe. Please use caution with any compound, especially around children and those with asthma or other respiratory problems.) If you call in professionals, ask them to first try pumping hot air into your bedroom – bed bugs can’t survive extreme heat.

To prevent an infestation, try these measures:

When traveling, check behind hotel bed frames and under mattress covers for orangish-brown fecal spots.

When you get home, wash all your clothes in hot water and store suitcases in a plastic bag in a hot car trunk or attic.

Use a mattress cover designed to suppress bed bugs.

If you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, proceed with caution on using natural pesticides. But now you know you have some safer options should you find these bugs in your home.

Photo credit.

Guest Blog: The poisoning has begun

Posted by Guest Blogger

Jul 032010

Thursday evening we found a voice message left by the owner of the land next to ours saying they would be spraying ROUND UP and select herbicides sometime on Friday. And there went our plans for a safe and happy holiday weekend.

By guest blogger Jacki Palmer-Boyce.

Our neighbor spraying his fields on Friday next to our home and organic gardens. Our holiday weekend has been ruined!

Thursday evening we came inside the house @ 10pm to a voice message left by the owner of the land saying they would be spraying ROUND UP and Select herbicides sometime on Friday. This ruined our HOLIDAY weekend. The soybean field is right next door to our property to the WEST and NORTH side of our land. We had no idea they were going to spray so our plans were to camp in our own yard “campsite” to avoid crowds and chemicals from the Holiday weekend. We had the tent sent up and plans for a fire with a few friends.

With the girls on a better day.

I was very grateful for the “warning” that was a life saver. HOWEVER all our plans of enjoying our own homestead went up in “fumes.” I had to keep all the windows closed today and it is a perfect day outside 70′s and sunny with low humidity and low dew point, so I had to miss out on a GREAT weather day. I could not enjoy my own yard, my “organic” gardens, my spring/well water are all at risk every time they spray more and more poisons into the land and air, which effects the water supply.

With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I smell, taste and feel the chemicals even though my husband John does not. So I am locked inside the house while he is outside. We can not go to our parks or Findley due to too many people and all their toxic chemicals they bring with them on a Holiday camp weekend: lighter fluid, tiki lights,sunscreen, the list goes on and on of things you have to avoid around crowds. So needless to say: several hours of spraying ruined several days to weeks of my life.

The tent we'd set up for "camping" in our yard this weekend.

I wonder how this can be legal and yet someone caught with a joint goes to jail. It is all about the $$ and GREED… MONSANTO & DOW should be in prison for poisoning people for year after year. Read about how glyphosate is toxic and Roundup is worse. Read here about clethodim herbicide. I hate when people say it is “JUST” roundup like it is something “safe”… boy did marketing pull the wool over so many zoombies’ eyes… WAKE UP, PEOPLE, CHEMICALS KILL! And not just the bugs!

I am very lucky the owner “warns me”– he doesn’t have to do that in OHIO; some states it is a law. So please know how thankful I am for the warning, without that I’d have my windows all open and clothes on the line and playing in my yard.

The raised beds out front, south exposure, with peppers and tomatoes.

This spraying happens about 3 to 4 times a growing season with different types of herbicides and fugicides. Each time is like a knife going into my heart and soul. We’d love to move away from all this madness they call country living and farming, but at this point in time it is not in the stars. So we try so hard to keep our little eco friendly homestead as chemical free as possible (in our control) and pray for protection from the chemicals when they spray. It beats the helicopter they used to spray fungicides last year– now that really drifted!

Just makes me so sad that this is still legal. Think of the millions of gallons of pesticides/herbicides used all over the USA. Add that to the GULF oil well blowout and we are doomed. They could stop it but choose not to. It brings in too much $$$$ and GREED is the name of the game… NOT HEALTH.

I want to end my day with a positive: I am well for the shape I am in…. I want to end with the positive… I must always be grateful no matter what… each day is a blessing even if it doesn’t turn out like you hope.

Older Entries

AP and MSNBC stink when it comes to properly reporting on chemical sensitivities

U.S. government launches website for consumers to report and search product safety complaints

Healthy Home Checklist from the Environmental Working Group

Pesticide Action Network asks you to take the pledge: VOTE!

Video: Pesticide use can only be detrimental

Chirps for September 28

Home buyers with chemical sensitivities should raise concerns early

Guest Blog: October is Breast Cancer Corruption Month

Exterminators look to highly toxic chemicals to stem the current invasion of bed bugs

Guest Blog: The poisoning has begun

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