[Pharmwaste] FW: [hcwh] EPA to test pesticides

[Tenace, Laurie]

Pardon any cross-postings 

Laurie

 

From: Peter Diamond [mailto:pdiamond at igc.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 6:39 PM
To: hcwh
Subject: [hcwh] EPA to test pesticides

 

(hcwh at lists.hcwh.org)


THE WASHINGTON POST


EPA Will Test Pesticides' Effect on Endocrine System


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR20090415019
60.html?hpid=topnews

 

 

By Juliet Eilperin
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/juliet+eilperin/> 

Washington Post Staff Writer 
Wednesday, April 15, 2009; 1:47 PM 

The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it will order pesticide
manufacturers for the first time to test 67 chemicals contained in their
products to determine if they disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates
both animals' and humans' growth, metabolism and reproduction. 

Researchers have raised concerns that chemicals released into the environment
are interfering with animals' hormone systems, citing problems such as male
fish in the Potomac River that are growing eggs. The chemicals, known as
endocrine disruptors, may interfere with the hormones that humans and animals
produce or secrete. 

"Endocrine disruptors can cause lifelong health problems, especially for
children," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a statement. "Gathering
this information will help us work with communities and industry to protect
Americans from harmful exposure." 

The testing will begin this summer and focus on whether these chemicals
affect the body's estrogen, androgen and thyroid systems, EPA officials said.
It will eventually encompass all pesticide chemicals. 

Pesticide industry officials said they had anticipated the move, which was
prompted initially by the 1996 passage of the Food Quality Protection Act,
and they planned to cooperate on the matter. 

"It's been a long time coming," said Jay Vroom, president and chief executive
of CropLife America, a major trade association. "For pesticides, we think the
likelihood is extremely low we'll have any concerns come to the surface." 

Just this month EPA rejected a petition from CropLife America that would have
changed aspects of the agency's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program in an
effort to reduce the costs and time requirements associated with the new
testing regime. But Vroom said EPA indicated in its April 3 letter that it
would take several of the industry's concerns into account, including leaving
open the possibility in the future of using computer modeling in some
instances rather than relying exclusively on laboratory animal testing. 

"That's an encouraging sign," he said, adding it appeared the agency would be
willing to lower the number of lab animals required for testing. 

Linda Birnbaum, who directs the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, said the program represents "a
more organized way to look at" how human exposure to pesticide chemicals
could affect everything from bone growth to brain development. 

"This is a good beginning," Birnbaum said, adding that scientists need to
examine how different hormone disruptors might interact or accumulate in the
human body. "It's very important to know, can certain chemicals, especially
chemicals that are out there that people are exposed to, impact our hormone
system." 

While researchers have observed the most visible effects of these chemicals
in animals, Birnbaum said it was likely some humans, depending on their
particularly sensitivity, could experience similar problems. 

"I think it's unrealistic that humans are going to be immune," she said,
adding that the studies need to determine "what are doses, how much of these
chemicals do you need for cause and effect?" 

Linda Phillips, who manages EPA's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, said
it will take about two years to obtain data from the two-tiered screening
program, and then it could take the agency another year to make a final
determination about the chemicals' effect on hormone disruption. 

Vroom said pesticide manufacturers are "very confident our products will come
through with flying colors. If we do learn something about our products that
raises a cause for concern, our industry will be at the table, ready and
willing to step forward and take action to mitigate risk." 

 

 

Peter Diamond

Associate Director

Environmental Health Fund

41 Oakview Terrace, Suite 1

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

617.524.6018

617.524.7021 fax

617.571.4601 cell

 

 

---
You are currently subscribed to hcwh as: Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-hcwh-5688431M at lists.hcwh.org



The Department of Environmental 

Protection values your feedback as a customer. DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole is committed to continuously assessing and 

improving the level and quality of services provided to you. Please take a few minutes to comment on the quality of 

service you received. Copy the url below to a web browser to complete the DEP 

survey: http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us Thank you in advance for completing the survey.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20090416/e5727685/attachment.html