Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)

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Resource Pointer #321 (Pesticide Drift)
May 14, 2003

For copies of the following resources, please contact the appropriate publishers or organizations directly.

*Secondhand Pesticides: Airborne Pesticide Drift in California, 2003* Susan Kegley (PANNA), Ann Katten (California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation) and Marion Moses (Pesticide Education Center). Highlights new findings that concentrations of several commonly used pesticides in air significantly exceed levels deemed “safe” by regulatory agencies, often by large margins. Notes that regulations ignore 80-95% of toxic airborne pesticide movement. Provides information on airborne concentrations of locally-used pesticides. 79 pages. Download free at http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/secondhandDriftAvail.dv.html. Contact Californians for Pesticide Reform, 49 Powell Street, Suite 530, San Francisco, CA 94102; phone (415) 981-3939; fax (415) 981-2727; email pests@igc.org; Web site http://www.pesticidereform.org/.

*Atmospheric Transport of Pesticides in the Sacramento, California, Metropolitan Area, 1996-1997, 2002* Michael S. Majewski and David S. Baston. Provides data on measured pesticide air drift into urban areas from outlying rural pesticide application areas. Includes sampling methodology and data on specific pesticides, including molinate, atrazine, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion and more. Reports that at least two rural-use pesticides, molinate and thiobencarb, did drift into the city. 56pages. Download free at http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/wri/wri024100/. Contact US Geological Survey. Contact U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, Places Hall, Suite 2012, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819; phone (916) 278-3026; fax (916) 278-3070. Web site http://www.usgs.gov/.

*Bitter Rains: Arial Pesticide Spraying in North Carolina, 2002* Fawn Pattison, Agricultural Resource Center. Details threats to environmental quality, health and safety of North Carolina posed by aerial spraying. Defines drift risks to human health and wildlife in the state and includes policy recommendations. Points out that drift from aerial sprays can travel thousands of feet, damaging human health and the environment, even at very low levels. 30 pages. Download report free at http://www.ibiblio.org/arc/. Contact Agricultural Resources Center, 115 W. Main Street, Carrboro, NC 27510; phone (919) 967-1886; email pested@envirolink.org; Web site http://www.ibiblio.org/arc/.

*A Breath of Air: What Pollution is Doing to Our Children, 2003* Video. Keren Markuze, Director/Producer. Funded by the California Air Resources Board & the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Describes results of the “Children’s Health Study” being conducted by investigators at the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center and the Children’s Environmental Health Center, based at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 28 minutes. US$8. Contact Mirna Troncoso, USC, 1540 Alcazar Street, CHP 236, Los Angeles, CA 90033; phone (323) 442-2745; email SCEHSC@usc.edu.

*Pesticide in the Atmosphere: Distribution, Trends, and Governing Factors, 1995* Michael Majewski and Paul Capel. Resource for scientists, regulators and activists. Provides a review and interpretation of direct measurements of pesticides in the environment. Examines hundreds of studies in detailed tabular listings, with accompanying maps that include spatial and temporal domain studies, target analytes, detection limits, and compounds detected. Volume One in the series, Pesticides in the Hydrologic System. 214 pages. US$79.95. Contact CRC Press, 2000 NW Corporate Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33431; phone (800) 272-7737; fax (800) 374-3401; email orders@crcpress.com; Web site http://www.crcpress.com/.

We encourage those interested in having resources listed in the PANUPS Resource Pointer to send review copies of publications, videos or other resources to our office.

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues that don’t always get coverage by the mainstream media. It’s produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

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