Pesticides Found in Washingtonians

by Erika Schreder, Washington Toxics Coalition

Editors Note: In 2005, the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition and the Washington Toxics Coalition invited ten Washingtonians to submit their hair, blood, and urine for toxic chemicals testing. Below is an excerpt from the report Pollution in People: Toxic Chemicals in Washingtonians, released May 2006. To view the full report, see www.pollutioninpeople.org.

Over fifteen years as a community organizer and toxic chemicals policy expert, Laurie Valeriano has learned to avoid many products that could harm her health. This knowledge, unfortunately, has not fully protected Laurie or her family. Laurie's body contains mercury, PFCs, toxic flame retardants, PCBs, and phthalates, albeit at lower levels than in other participants. Moreover, it is likely that she passed significant amounts of these chemicals to her three children in the womb and while breastfeeding.

But what we did not find in Laurie's body find in Laurie's body shows that her choices are—in at least one significant way—having a positive effect on her and her family's health. The Pollution in People study, which tested for metabolites of such commonly used pesticides as malathion, chlorpyrifos, azinphos methyl, and carbaryl, did not find any sign of pesticides in Laurie. Why? Well, for starters, Laurie and her family use alternatives to pesticides in their home and garden, go to a pesticide-free park, and eat organically grown food. Her decisions are backed by good evidence, too: University of Washington research has found that children who eat an organic diet are much less likely to be exposed to pesticides. [1]

Senator Lisa Brown has made different choices. Most of the food she and her son eat is conventionally grown, not organic. And Lisa, along with five other participants, tested positive for pesticides.

We tested for a series of pesticide breakdown products, or metabolites, that indicate exposure to organophosphate pesticides, as well as the metabolite of the insecticide carbaryl. The carbaryl metabolite was most commonly found, turning up in five participants. [2] We also found the organophosphate metabolites known as DMTP (in four participants) and DMP (in two), indicating exposure to the widely used insecticides azinphos methyl and malathion, among other pesticides. [3]

Many of us are exposed to these pesticides regularly over our lifetimes, which often leads to consistently detectable levels.  

Along for the Ride

Most of our ten participants don't spray these insecticides in their home or garden, so the most likely source of the pesticides in their bodies is their food, especially since most of their diets are not organic. The organophosphate pesticides diazinon and chlorpyrifos, once the most widely used insecticides in U.S. homes and gardens, are now primarily used in agriculture. Azinphos methyl is highly acutely toxic and is used only in agriculture, on such crops as apples, cherries, and pears. [4] Malathion is used in both settings, but most commonly in agriculture. Carbaryl is sprayed on about half of Washington's apple crop and much of its grape acreage. [5]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts a yearly “market basket” survey to test for residues of pesticides in produce. The most contaminated fruits and vegetables include apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. USDA's most recent testing found that 98% of apples and 97% of bell peppers are contaminated. 6 All of the apples and pears tested by the USDA were contaminated with 1-napthol, the breakdown product of carbaryl. The agency found up to nine pesticides on a single apple and eight in a single grape sample.

Our study suggests eating organic provides some protection from pesticide exposure. We tested for a correlation between pesticide detections in our participants and the number of organic meals each person reported eating. We found a statistically significant correlation, indicating that the more organic food each participant ate, the less likely he or she was to have pesticides in his or her body.

Farm workers and farm worker families are exposed to the most agricultural pesticides by far. While mixing and applying pesticides, they come into contact with significant amounts of chemicals, later tracking them into their homes on their shoes and clothing. Their homes, which are often near the farms they work on, become further contaminated when pesticides drift from nearby fields.

Policy Changes Needed

The presence of these pesticides in our participants' bodies demonstrates the extreme flaws in today's system for regulating pesticides. Although the EPA requires manufacturers to test pesticides for harmful effects, national rules do not prevent continued use of pesticides that test positive for cancer or harm to brain development.

The federal pesticide law, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, makes no guarantee that pesticides allowed for use will not cause harm to people and other living things. Rather, as long as a pesticide's perceived economic benefits outweigh its health risks, the law allows for its use. The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 aimed to improve this standard somewhat for pesticides used on food, but EPA has yet to implement many of the law's important provisions. For example, the law requires EPA to consider the cumulative effects of different pesticides that have the same health effect. A decade after its passage, EPA is still in the process of determining how to implement this requirement.

To eliminate exposure to toxic pesticides, EPA should phase out the use of all organophosphate and carbamate pesticides. State agricultural departments can take action to phase out these and other toxic pesticides. State legislatures should provide funding to develop alternatives to toxic pesticides for both conventional and organic growers. Cities and counties can eliminate their own use of toxic pesticides on public property, and educate residents about replacing pesticides with healthier practices in the home and garden. Laurie Valeriano's family has a pesticide-free park to use because of a community effort to make it one of Seattle's twenty-two pesticide-free parks. This effort, together with a campaign led by local residents and organizations, ultimately led the City of Seattle to establish a precedent-setting policy ending its use of the most toxic pesticides, which other cities and counties can emulate.

References and Notes

1. Lu C, et al. 2005. Organic diets significantly lower children's exposure to organophosphorus pesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives 114 (2): 260-263. Available at http://www.ehponline. 114 (2): 260-263. Available at http://www.ehponline.org/.

2. The presence of 1-napthol (the carbaryl metabolite tested) in urine may also be the result of exposure to naphthalene, tobacco smoke, or fires. None of our study participants is a smoker or lives with a smoker.

3. DMTP, DMP, and DEP are “non-specific” metabolites of organophosphate pesticides, meaning they may result from exposure to more than one pesticide.

4. USEPA. 1999. Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings. EPA 735-R-98-003.

5. WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture). 2003. Carbaryl use profile. Obtained by Washington Toxics Coalition through public records request.

6. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). 2006. Pesticide Data Program. Annual Summary Calendar Year 2004.