[Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned pesticides worth billions

Thu Feb 5 15:02:46 EST 2015

This post reminded me of a publication from 2010 from our friend Christian
Daughton.

Drugs are Chemicals Too.

A perspective regarding drug lethality can be gained by comparison with
pesticide toxicities.

Lethal doses in humans for pesticides are often rated on a scale where the
two most lethal groups

have LD50's of less than 1 mg/kg (extremely toxic) and 1-50 mg/kg (highly
toxic). But keep in

mind that these are two classes are no longer sold for home use; because of
their extreme

toxicity, they are available only for use by professionals. If we examine
fentanyl (or a number of other drugs not uncommonly available in homes)
(Daughton and Ruhoy 2009a), we see that they

can be lethal to children in doses of mg/body - one or more orders more
toxic than the most toxic

pesticides. Given that the less-toxic pesticides used by consumers are
rarely stored inside homes,

the gross disparity in the way which these hazardous medicinal substances
are treated is evident

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Thomas Hodges
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 1:49 PM
To: Gilliam, Allen; Shield, Margaret; DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ);
pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned
pesticides worth billions

I am in wholehearted agreement. Thank you for the reminder to everyone.

Tom H

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Gilliam,
Allen
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 12:05 PM
To: Shield, Margaret; DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ);
pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned
pesticides worth billions

Thanks for the sad story Margaret,

Not wishing to offend others' religious beliefs (and I'm no Bible totin or
even Sunday Christian), but 1 Timothy 6:10 (New Living Translation [had to
look it up]) says, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and
pierced themselves with many sorrows." seems to be applying itself in mother
earth's demise in so many facets of our environment.

Absolutely NO offense intended to anyone,

Allen g

From: Shield, Margaret [mailto:Margaret.Shield at kingcounty.gov] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 5:51 PM
To: Gilliam, Allen; DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ); pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned
pesticides worth billions

The Precautionary Principle is a strategy that must then be carried out in
policies, laws, regulations.    It's use by the EU has been under attack
with renewed vigor.  

Here's one perspective on why:

25 August 2014

Chemical Industry using TTIP 'to attack the precautionary principle'

Trade deal presents long-awaited opportunities for fresh assaults on
regulation writes Axel Singhofen

health and environment advisor Greens/EFA group
 Republished with the kind permission of  <http://chemicalwatch.com/>
Chemical Watch.

CW. Global Business Briefing, July/August 2014 / Europe

The last 12 months have seen a surge of attacks against the EU's
precautionary principle. Some
<http://www.lexxion.de/pdf/ejrr/12-16-12.04.438_ejrr_2013_04.pdf010.pdf> law
firms consider it as a potential obstacle to the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP), and UK Conservative MEP
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230394790457933661120892
4306?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527023039479
04579336611208924306.html> Julie Girling considers that "the EU's expanding
embrace of `precautionary' regulation... may well be the biggest threat" to
an agreement being signed off. 

Last October, 12
<http://www.riskforum.eu/uploads/2/5/7/1/25710097/erf_communication_12.pdf>
CEOs of mainly chemical companies wrote to the presidents of the European
Commission, Council and Parliament, calling for the formal adoption of an
"innovation principle" as a counterbalance to "precautionary legislation",
because they were concerned that "the necessary balance of precaution and
proportion is increasingly being replaced by a simple reliance on the
precautionary principle and the avoidance of technological risk. 

Some academics even conjure up a "precautionary impasse in Europe", claim an
"apparent gap between evidence-based analysis and expert-informed
recommendations, and policy decisions that can seem disconnected from both",
and conclude there is "a necessity for change in light of the
impracticability of a status quo that leads to scattered ill-thought out
bans".

Read more at..

http://www.ttip2014.eu/blog-detail/blog/precautionary%20principle%20TTIP.htm
l

Margaret Shield PhD, Policy Liaison
Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County
desk 206-477-6238     cell 206-265-9732 
Local Governments for Health and the Environment -  <http://www.lhwmp.org>
www.lhwmp.org

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Gilliam,
Allen
Sent: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 1:05 PM
To: DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ); pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned
pesticides worth billions

Sounds like something that typically happens with our policy makers on the
hill.

Does anyone practice the Precautionary Principal anymore?  And didn't I read
the EU was decades ahead of the U.S. in its use?

Allen g

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of DeBiasi,
Deborah (DEQ)
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 2:05 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] 'Suppressed' EU report could have banned pesticides
worth billions

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/02/suppressed-eu-report-coul
d-have-banned-pesticides-worth-billions

'Suppressed' EU report could have banned pesticides worth billions

Science paper recommended ways of identifying hormone-mimicking chemicals in
pesticides linked to foetal abnormalities, genital mutations, infertility
and other diseases including cancer 

As many as 31 pesticides with a value running into billions of pounds could
have been banned because of potential health risks, if a blocked EU paper on
hormone-mimicking chemicals had been acted upon, the Guardian has learned.

The science paper, seen by the Guardian, recommends ways of identifying and
categorising the endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that scientists link
to a rise in foetal abnormalities, genital mutations, infertility, and
adverse health effects ranging from cancer to IQ loss.

Commission sources say that the paper was buried by top EU officials under
pressure from big chemical firms which use EDCs in toiletries, plastics and
cosmetics, despite an annual health cost that studies peg at
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/02/toiletries-health-impact
-could-cost-millions-report-says> hundreds of millions of euros.   (Long
article - read the rest at the site above)

Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov <http://www.deq.virginia.gov/> 
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permits 
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents

http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDis
chargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx

Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028      FAX:      804-698-4032

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