Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[su do <speakingbeareturns@yahoo.com>]

Duh, Agrichems have affected all of us! Especially those of us in rural areas.


--- On Fri, 6/27/08, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

> From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
> Subject: [Livingontheland] No such thing as "safe" levels of contamination
> To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Friday, June 27, 2008, 9:05 PM
> No such thing as "safe" levels of contamination
>  
> Cross-disciplinary research reveals low-level pesticide
> exposure linked to myriad of learning, behavioral and
> medical problems.
> http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20080627/n1
> By Amanda Kimble-Evans
> 
>      "In 1998, Elizabeth Guillette published her
> finding on the affects of agrichemicals on preschool
> children in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, Mexico, the source
> of much of the U.S. supply of winter fruits and vegetables.
> Children regularly exposed to pesticides on the farms in the
> valley displayed classic signs of severe neurological
> devastation. They also expressed poor coordination, low
> stamina, poor memory and heightened aggression when
> compared to the children who lived just a few miles away in
> the mountains and were not exposed."
> 
> --------------------
> editor's NOTE
>    Rodale Institute’s researchers continue to work with a
> range of soil and crop scientists to evaluate the dynamics
> and benefits of regenerative organic farming. To extend our
> understanding of the benefits of organics for human health,
> we’re looking at the work of Dr. Warren P. Porter.
> 
>    Officially, Dr. Porter is professor of zoology and
> environmental toxicology at the University of Wisconsin,
> Madison. But the scope of his expertise includes
> environmental and molecular toxicology, conservation
> biology and engineering physics. Through a series of life
> events, a gift of intense curiosity and a willingness to
> follow the scientific evidence where it leads, he’s
> discovered disturbing scientific evidence of unacknowledged
> risks from non-organic farming products and techniques.
> 
>    His research interests include: impacts on organisms
> subjected to simultaneous changes in climate, topography
> and vegetation (as is happening due to global warming
> phenomena); impact of low-level contaminant/pesticide
> mixtures on organisms and biological communities in terms
> of reproduction, food-web interaction, developmental
> processes, neurological function (learning abilities and
> aggression levels), immune function and endocrine function.
> 
>    He addressed Rodale Institute staff and local health
> care professionals this week, laying out key research
> findings pointing to the need for a radical reconsideration
> of the impact of pesticides on human and wildlife
> populations. Here’s a bit of background and some of his
> major talking points.
> -----------
> 
> In 1995, Warren P. Porter, Ph.D., read an article in the
> Wisconsin State Journal that reported skyrocketing remedial
> education costs due to an increase in children with
> disabilities in the Madison school district. The numbers
> were surprising: an 87-percent jump in children with
> emotional disturbances, a 70-percent increase in children
> with learning disabilities and 83 percent more children
> with physical disabilities between 1990 and 1995.
> 
> What Dr. Porter noticed as he began to look at other
> communities, was that there was an epidemic change in these
> levels worldwide. "My children are everything to
> me," said Dr. Porter. And so he began to ask
> "Why?"
> 
> Because he is a professor of zoology and environmental
> toxicology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dr.
> Porter attacked this nagging question scientifically.
> Because he is Dr. Warren Porter, he began to look into the
> advanced academic research from several disciplines to find
> the answer.
> 
> In 1998, Elizabeth Guillette published her finding on the
> affects of agrichemicals on preschool children in the Yaqui
> Valley of Sonora, Mexico, the source of much of the U.S.
> supply of winter fruits and vegetables. Children regularly
> exposed to pesticides on the farms in the valley displayed
> classic signs of severe neurological devastation. They also
> expressed poor coordination, low stamina, poor memory and
> heightened aggression when compared to the children who
> lived just a few miles away in the mountains and were not
> exposed.
> 
> In the 10 years since Dr. Guillette published her shocking
> findings, Dr. Porter and a number of other researchers have
> begun to take a cross-disciplinary look at the effects
> common pesticides have on the health and well-being of our
> communities at levels considered "safe" by the
> current regulatory bodies in the U.S. According to Dr.
> Porter, "normal" exposures in food, water and air
> may be creating many of the serious long-term health
> problems emerging in humans and wildlife.
> 
> National and international research projects show that
> pesticides contribute to an increase in aggressive
> behavior, birth defects, developmental roadblocks, failing
> immune function and sexual disorders. And evidence is just
> surfacing that our fundamental genetic constitution could
> be in jeopardy.
> 
> There are no straight lines in nature
> 
> Dr. Porter cites a number of problems with how the wider
> scientific community and the Environmental Protection
> Agency have underestimated the risks associated with
> pesticides, including herbicides and fungicides.
> 
> "They assume a linear dose response. In toxicology the
> size of the dose is what is considered important in
> determining how poisonous something will be." Meaning,
> the more to which you are exposed, the worse the effect.
> 
> But, says Dr. Porter, a bell-shaped dose response is much
> more common in real life. "Physiologically, the timing
> of the dose is often more important than size."
> Meaning, it is possible that a very low-level exposure
> during a particular period of development can have a
> dramatic affect, whereas the same exposure before or after
> that period may have no affect at all.
> 
> A study by Levin, et al. in 2002 found the learning ability
> of female rats was affected the most when exposed to the
> lowest dose of a pesticide called chlorpyrifos during
> in-utero development. Higher-dose exposure showed much less
> of a negative response. Another study by Agoos, et al. in
> 2007 found the very same "inverse dose response"
> in female mice. As mice are very different than rats
> physiologically, it was surprising to see a consistent
> response.
> 
> "[The systemic affects of herbicides] is like ripping
> up telephone cables. The signals get mixed and broken. You
> end up with serious long-term consequences that are very
> difficult to diagnose."
>        
> The same inverse dose response pattern was seen in a 2002
> study by Cavieres, et al. where researchers dosed the
> drinking water of pregnant mice with a common herbicide at
> high, intermediate, low and very low levels. The highest
> degree of fetal losses was at the very low level.
> 
> And, again, in a 2005 study on another common
> pesticide's ability to affect brain function, the
> inverse dose response appeared. Rodriguez, et al. found 5
> mg of atrazine had more of an effect on neurotransmitters
> in the brain than 10 mg of the very same chemical.
> 
> "It should be noted that the EPA only tests the
> effects of intermediate concentrations," says Dr.
> Porter, "since the assumption is that there will be
> less of an effect the smaller the concentration."
> 
> Porter also points to studies by Richard, et al. (2005) and
> Fan, et al. (2007) that show how two common herbicides
> effect the levels of testosterone and estrogen in the
> system at "environmentally relevant levels," or
> levels currently found in the environment. They found that
> atrazine increases the levels of estrogen in the system and
> glyphosate increases the levels of testosterone. Changes in
> the levels of these sex hormones feed back to the brain and
> immune systems leading to other systemic problems, says
> Porter. "It's like ripping up telephone cables.
> The signals get mixed and broken. You end up with serious
> long-term consequences that are very difficult to
> diagnose."
> 
> Creating a successful poison
> 
> When confronted with these studies, Porter asked himself,
> "Why do pesticides and herbicides at low-levels have
> such devastating systemic affects on animals, including
> humans?" This lead him to the second assumption in our
> regulatory process that has created a toxic loophole.
> 
> "It all goes back to the principles of creating a
> poison that effectively kills," says Porter. "You
> want something that is quickly and easily absorbed through
> the 'skin' or outer defense system and something
> that is water- and fat-soluble which gives it a 'master
> entry key' to every cell in the body, brain and/or
> fetus."
>       
> The "inactive" ingredients in Round-up make it
> twice as biologically active and, therefore, twice as
> potentially toxic as the potential of it's
> "active" chemical parts.
>  
> 
> Solvents (organic soaps) and surfactants (that diminish the
> surface tension of water) are added to pesticide and
> herbicide formulations to create a product that encourages
> effective uptake and allows access to all cells of the
> targeted organism. The problem is that they are also
> absorbed through our skin and lungs more effectively and
> they have a master entry key to our cells, says Porter.
> 
> Dr. Porter cites two independent studies that determined
> the "inactive" ingredients in Round-up make it
> twice as biologically active and, therefore, twice as
> potentially toxic as the potential of it's
> "active" chemical parts. Unfortunately, solvents
> and surfactants are not tested as part of the EPA
> registration process. "For example," says Porter,
> "the EPA registers glyphosate, the chemical considered
> an active ingredient in Round-up, not Round-up
> itself."
> Passing the damage on
> 
> Researchers at Washington State University studied DNA of
> male rats and discovered DNA sequences were altered through
> methylation (changes in the epigenic pattern) by exposure to
> the fungicide vinclozolin. "Methylation patterns
> reflect our environmental history," says Dr. Porter.
> "It's our genetic response to environmental
> insults." Porter points out that early-immune insults
> have also been linked to asthma, allergies, autoimmune
> diseases, cancer, cerebral palsy and male sterility.
> 
> The expression of the NCAM1 gene, specifically, was blocked
> by exposure to the fungicide. Diseases related to this gene
> include Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, neural tube defects
> and various tumors, says Porter.
> 
> The revealing piece of the Washington State University
> study was the fact that the DNA alterations caused by
> exposure to the fungicide were actually passed down four
> generations.
> "The evidence is strong," says Dr. Porter.
> "We are compromising our children and our
> children's children."
> 
> The extent of our exposure
> 
> Recent studies have begun to capture the true extent of our
> low-level exposure to pesticides that could be quietly
> causing serious health problems in our population. The
> toxins are nearly inescapable in the water we drink, the
> food we eat and the air we breathe.
> 
> Lu, et al. (2006) measured organophosphates in the urine of
> Seattle children and discovered levels of chemical
> indicators up to 14 parts per billion
> "Organophosphates are neurotoxins by design and
> we're capable of responding to neurotoxins in the parts
> per trillion level," says Porter, "especially
> during [fetal] development."
> 
> "The public has been slow awakening to the danger of
> low-level pesticide exposure. And the EPA regulatory
> process doesn't capture the full and devastating risk
> of these chemical cocktails."
>        
> 
> And new work by Paul Winchester, et al. is taking a look at
> the correlation between the amount of atrazine in the water
> at the time of conception to the math and reading skills of
> Indiana children.
> 
> "The public has been slow awakening to the danger of
> low-level pesticide exposure," said Porter. "And
> the EPA regulatory process doesn't capture the full and
> devastating risk of these chemical cocktails."
> 
> Dr. Porter suggests we rework the way chemical products are
> registered to reflect discoveries related to non-linear dose
> responses, the effects of solvents and surfactants, the
> compound and synergistic affects of chemical mixtures, and
> the differences in hormonal and developmental responses
> between males and females.
> 
> In the meantime, the study by Lu, et al. offers a path to
> reducing our exposure. When the Seattle children were put
> on an organic food diet, concentrations of the chemical
> indicators in their urine were undetectable within five
> days.
> 
> Porter agrees: "Buy organic or grow your own, and get
> a really good water filter for your drinking and washing
> water. It won't eliminate all your exposure, but it
> will dramatically reduce your risk."
> 
> Amanda Kimble-Evans is assistant editor at Rodale
> Institute. She specializes in nutrition issues, recently
> became a mom and enjoys her organic garden.
> 
> 
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