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EPA Misses Pesticide Problems08-18-08 | News

EPA Misses Pesticide Problems

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has discovered that two groups of ?EUR??,,????'?????<Photo courtesy of Iowa State University Extension

A Center for Public Integrity (CPI) report, Perils of the New Pesticides, analyzes the number of reported human health problems, including severe reactions and deaths, linked to two families of pesticides, pyrethrins and pyrethroids, over the past decade.

The data reveal that reported incidents of fatal, major, and moderate exposures to the two classes of pesticides increased 300 percent since 1998. There were 1,030 incidents reported to EPA in 2007 alone, up significantly from the 261 reported in 1998. Pyrethrins and pyrethroids accounted for more incidents than any other class of pesticide over the last five years. The EPA?EUR??,,????'?????<

Data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers also showed a large increase in reported health problems linked to pyrethroid and pyrethrin exposure over the last decade, with instances increasing 63 percent from 1998 to 2006. Additional data from the association show that the number of hospital visits resulting from pyrethrin and pyrethroid exposures is increasing and approaching the level caused by organophosphate exposures at their peak in the early 1990s, according to the CPI report.

As a result of the investigation, the director of the EPA?EUR??,,????'?????<

Medical studies have suggested that people with ragweed allergies and those with asthma may be especially sensitive to developing skin or respiratory disorders following exposure to pyrethrins and pyrethroids.

The Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) responded to the CPI report claiming that the report distorts the truth. According to a CSPA press release, the EPA data system, which CPI relied on, includes all incidents without validation or investigation. Thus, cases resulting from misuse, abuse, and exposures resulting from attempts at self harm such as suicides are included. According to CSPA President Chris Cathcart, ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Source: OMB Watch