=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #258
—November 6, 1991—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
==========
The Back issues and Index
are available
here.
The official RACHEL archive is here.
It’s updated constantly.
To subscribe, send E-mail to rachel-
weekly-
request@world.std.com
with the single word SUBSCRIBE in the message. It’s free.
===Previous Issue==========================================Next Issue===
HAZARDOUS WASTE IS LEGALLY
‘RECYCLED’ INTO PESTICIDES AND LABELED ‘INERT’
Today fewer than 20 corporations own and operate better than 90%
of all the major newspapers, magazines, radio stations, book
publishers, and TV stations in America. If current trends hold,
by the end of the century as few as 10, or even 6, companies may
own them all.[1]
An equally important trend is that news reporters now rely
heavily on public relations firms for stories. Not that the
journalists themselves like it that way. When 2432 journalists
were given a list of animals and asked to choose which is “most
like a PR person,” 71% said weasel, 11 percent said fox, 2
percent dog, and 1 percent worm.[2] Nevertheless, 81% of
journalists said they need PR people; 38% SAID THEY GET HALF
THEIR STORIES FROM THEM; 31% said they relied on PR people for 5
to 10 stories a week; 15% said they relied on them for more than
10 stories; 17 PERCENT SAID THEY USED PR PEOPLE FOR EVERY STORY.
Local news reporters said they get only 15% of their stories from
PR people; editors of lifestyle pages put the figure at 60%, and
among entertainment editors, the figure is 75%. REPORTERS CREDIT
PR PEOPLE AS THE SOURCE FOR 90% OF ALL STORIES ON HEALTH. The
environment, of course, is part of the “health” beat.
Clearly the polluters are managing to manage the news. It is
therefore increasingly important for an aggressive, independent
alternative press to thrive and prosper. Publications ranging
from E THE ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE to NACE NEWS, PAHLS JOURNAL,
WASTE NOT and EVERYONE’S BACKYARD provide news and information
that never get considered by the mainstream media–either because
the big news organizations are owned by polluters, or because the
PR firms who “package” health and environment stories are owned
or influenced by polluters.[3]
In June of this year a first-rate alternative newspaper called
GREEN LINE in western North Carolina broke a story that is still
echoing across the land.[4] Reporter Andrea Helm discovered a
loophole in federal laws that allows hazardous chemical wastes to
be included in pesticides and labeled “inert ingredients.” Yes,
that’s right–the pesticides that your neighbor sprayed on his
lawn (and probably on your dog) may legally contain hazardous
wastes, including many that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or
teratogenic. And it’s perfectly legal.
An “inert ingredient” in a pesticide is anything not registered
as an “active ingredient.” The “active ingredient” is the poison.
The purpose of an “inert” is to preserve the active ingredient,
make the active ingredient easier to apply, or make the active
ingredient work better. For example, an “inert” might soften the
skin of the target species, making it easier for the poison to
penetrate the body. Or an “inert” might be an oily substance that
prevents rain from washing the poison away. A typical pesticide
is 1% to 20% active ingredient (by weight) and 80% to 99%
“inerts.”
The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides recently
received from U.S. EPA’s Office of Pesticides and Toxic
Substances a list of 2000 chemicals that have been approved for
use as “inert” ingredients in pesticides. The list includes such
things as carbon tetrachloride, toluene, xylene, cadmium and lead
compounds.[5]
A little-known exemption in RCRA (the nation’s basic hazardous
waste law) allows hazardous wastes to be “recycled” into
pesticides as “inert” ingredients.
It is interesting–and perhaps entirely coincidental–that the
nation’s largest waste haulers–Waste Management, Inc.–started
buying into the pesticide business in the late 1980s. In 1987
Waste Management, Inc. made an unsuccessful bid to buy Chemlawn.
However WMI persisted and now owns Trugreen in Alpharetta, GA,
ABC Pest Control in San Antonio, TX, Biltmore/Getz Pest Control,
WM Pest Control of Oak Brook, IL, United Pest Control of
Washington, DC, and other lawn care and pest control companies.
Recently, WMI has reportedly consolidated many of its pesticide
companies into something called ServiceMaster Consumer Services
Limited Partnership, which is 20% owned by Waste Management, Inc.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press officer Al Hire
told reporter Andrea Helm that allowing recycled hazardous waste
in pesticides is “a way of disposing of hazardous materials.” Two
days later, when Helm phoned to check the quotation, Hire changed
it to “a way of USING hazardous materials.” Either way, there can
be no doubt that “recycling” hazardous waste into pesticides is a
perfectly legal and EPA-approved way of “using” hazardous wastes.
The Lake Michigan Federation (LMF)–a group of citizen activists
with offices in four cities–recently documented a case of
“recycling” a hazardous waste as an “inert” ingredient in
pesticides.[6] A company called Granulated Technologies
(Grantech) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is buying toxic sludge from
the Fort Howard Paper Company; Fort Howard produces the sludge
when it de-inks paper in its paper-recycling process. (Yes, paper
recycling is a toxic business if the paper is de-inked and then
bleached with chlorine.) Grantech heats and dries the sludge to
convert it into small pellets to be used as carriers for
agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, and perhaps also as
kitty litter. Because Grantech is recycling the toxic sludge, it
escapes regulation under RCRA, the nation’s hazardous waste law.
LMF is publicizing EPA data on the chemical contents of the
sludge. A year’s worth of the dried sludge contains 301 pounds of
styrene, 287 pounds of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 1921 pounds of
naphthalene, 5629 pounds of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, 5814
pounds of chromium, 1643 pounds of lead, 33 pounds of mercury,
122 pounds of thallium, 278,897 pounds of zinc, and so on.
Other compounds identified in the sludge are 2,3,7,8-TCDD (the
most potent of the dioxins), 2,3,7,8-TCDF (a dibenzo furan) and a
range of chlorinated phenols, chlorinated catechols, chlorinated
guaiacols, and chlorinated benzaldehydes. Toxic soup.
This is not something you want to put on your garden, yet that is
where Grantech intends to put it, with the blessing of state and
federal environmental agencies.
Once again government is trying to “linguistically detoxify”
hazardous waste, this time by calling it “inert” because it is
being “recycled.” From the viewpoint of public health and safety
there is only one real solution to this shell game: banning some
chemicals (chlorine is a prime candidate) and reducing the use of
others in a phased, monitored program of chemical control. In
other words, pollution prevention. These are realities the
mainstream press is evidently unable to report. Hats off to
Andrea Helm and to GREEN LINE for breaking this important story.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
===============
[1] Ben H. Bagdikian, MEDIA MONOPOLY. THIRD EDITION (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1990).
Descriptor terms: hazardous waste; pesticides; inert
ingredients; recycling; carcinogens; mutagens; teratogens; green
line; andrea helm; northwest coalition for alternatives to
pesticides; epa; office of pesticides and toxic susbstances;
carbon tetrachloride; toluene; xylene; cadmium; lead; bfi; wmi;
chemlawn; granulated technologies; grantech; green bay; wi; fort
howard paper company; rcra; linguistic detoxification; bans;
chlorine;