EPA Bans Pesticide For Home Use

Washington – The Environmental Protection Agency has banned Dursban and
Lorsban, commonly used pesticides used to control bugs. The agency also is
reducing the amount of the chemical that can be used in food production.

The EPA reported that the chemical poses a health threat to children because
of the impact it poses on the brain and nervous system.

According to EPA administrator Carol Browner, the time has come to review
these pesticides for safety and where the science dictates, remove these
chemicals that pose an unreasonable threat to human health.

The pesticides, also known as chlorpyrifos, are used on a variety of crops
such as apples and grapes. The EPA is requiring producers to drastically
reduce the amount of pesticide residue found on these foods because they are
frequently consumed by children. At least one physician’s group is
applauding the move, but said that more needs to be done to protect the
public.

Dr. Jill Stein of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility said,
What’s really important here though is that Dursban is just one of 140
pesticides already identified as neurotoxic.

The six companies that make the chemical agreed to the ban for
non-agriculture uses. However, they questioned the need for it.

This product is safe for use if used according to label instructions, said
Elin Miller, vice president of Dow Agrosciences.

The government said that its action will eliminate household use of
chlorpyrifos by the end of the year. The EPA said that reaching an agreement
with the chemical’s producers was the fastest way get the product off the
market.

http://www.primenet.com/~redhen/

Letters to the EPA to ban Dursban

Subject: Dursban pesticide exposure Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 08:47:54 -0600 Hi. My name is Louis Carroll. I am 9 years old. I was poisond by dursban when I was 4. My life has been realy affected by pesticides. When I am exposed to any pesticides I go into seeshers. It is terrible. Sometimes I dont stop for weeks and that made me alergic to a lot of other things like msg, food colorings and things like that. My life is terrible because of pesticides. Please take them off the market. Louis Carroll Subject: Dursban pesticide exposure Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 21:14:42 Hello, My mother-in-law was exposed to Dursban – possibly an open wound on her foot — and has had numerous health problems since then. She has lost most of the motor skills in her hands and feet. We are trying to gather as much information as possible to understand if the exposure to Dursban could in fact be the cause of her physical problems. Any assistance you can provide is appreciated. Thank you, John Oehlers