RACHEL's Hazardous Waste News #250

=======================Electronic Edition========================

RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #250
—September 11, 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
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PET DOGS GET CANCER FROM WEED KILLERS

Pet dogs exposed to the weed killer 2,4-D are dying of cancer at
twice normal rates, according to a study just published in the
JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE.[1] Dog owners who
spray
or dust their lawns with weed killers containing 2,4-D are
doubling Fido’s chances of getting cancer, the study shows. Dogs
walk across, or roll in, herbicide-treated lawns and then ingest
toxic chemicals when they lick their coats or paws. Popular
lawn-care products containing 2,4-D include Weedone, Weed-B-Gone,
and many others (see below).[2]

Naturally, children who play on treated lawns will also come in
contact with the chemical; dogs and children can also track the
chemical indoors where prolonged exposure to humans may occur,
but, so far as we know, no one has yet studied effects of weed
killers on children or other family members inhabiting treated
home sites.

In the past decade, several studies of farmers, and a few of
railroad workers, have shown a connection between exposure to
2,4-D and an increased risk of human cancers. This latest study
shows that dogs get some of the same kinds of cancers from weed
killers that farmers in Nebraska,[3] Kansas,[4]
and Saskatchewan,[5]
and workers in Sweden[6,7,8] are reported to get from using 2,4-D
on crops and to clear weeds along railroad tracks. In humans, the
cancers are known as soft tissue sarcomas (STS), malignant
lymphomas, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. In dogs, malignant
lymphomas and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas predominate. The occurrence
of such cancers in the American people has been rising slowly
but steadily for several decades, tracking the emergence of the
modern life style in which the dandelion-free lawn has come to
symbolize the good life.[9] Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas–the kind
dogs are reported to get most often from exposure to 2,4-D–have
been the second fastest-growing cancer in humans in the U.S.
during the past 15 years.

It is not clear exactly which components of weed killers are
responsible for the cancers. There are three possible sources of
the problem: (a) the active ingredient in the weed killer, (b)
the so-called “inert” ingredients that are used as carriers for
the chemicals that actually kill weeds, and (c) the dioxins that
contaminate the active ingredients during manufacture.

About 600 million pounds of 2,4-D are spread on American soil
each year by homeowners and farmers–about 60 million pounds of
“active ingredients” and about 540 million pounds of “inert”
ingredients that can include carbon tetrachloride (a carcinogen),
chloroform (a carcinogen), chloroethane (a carcinogen) and 20 or
more other ingredients that are labeled “inert” but which have
well-known toxic properties. [10] Federal pesticide law does not
require chemical companies to disclose what is in the “inert”
ingredients in their products. Furthermore, federal law provides
a $10,000 penalty for any government employee who reveals the
make-up of “inert” ingredients in pesticides.

2,4-D and its closely-related chemical cousin, 2,4,5-T (which is
now banned in the U.S.), are contaminated with dioxins during
manufacture. Dioxins are extremely potent toxins that have a wide
spectrum of effects in humans, wildlife, and laboratory animals
(ses RHWN #249). A recent study by the National Institutes of
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) revealed a 46% cancer
increase among workers in factories manufacturing these weed
killers. (See RHWN #219.) Previous studies by scientists employed
by herbicide manufacturing companies (BASF and Monsanto) had
purported to show no effects in workers but there is now a
growing concern among government officials that some of these
studies were falsified. [11]

People spread 2,4-D around their homes and gardens to kill
broad-leaf weeds, crab grass and dandelions. Farmers use it on
tomatoes to cause all fruits to ripen at the same time for
machine harvesting, and to increase the red color in potatoes.
Utility companies, highway departments, and railroads use it to
clear brush beneath power transmission lines and along highways
and tracks. It is used heavily on corn, sorghum, rice and other
crops to keep weeds down. From 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam
War, 2,4-D and its chemical cousin 2,4,5-T mixed together formed
Agent Orange; it was sprayed by soldiers and airmen to defoliate
the jungle where the Vietcong were living. Thousands of GIs have
filed lawsuits against the U.S. government and against individual
companies that supplied components of Agent Orange, such as
Monsanto, Dow, Uniroyal, Hercules, Diamond Shamrock and others. A
recent study in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH reveals
that Vietnam veterans are 70% more likely to father children with
one or more major birth defects, compared to men with no military
service; it is unclear whether herbicide exposure is the most
important cause. [12]

Common names for weed killers containing 2,4-D include Weedone,
Weed-B-Gon, Green Cross Weed No More 80, Lawn-Keep, Salvo, Red
Devil Dry Weed Killer, De-Pester Ded-Weed, Plantgard, Dormon,
Dormone, Brush Killer 64, Weed-Rhap, Bladex-B, Butoxy-D, Dicofur,
Ipaner, Moxon, Netagrone, Pielik, U 46 DP, Verton 38,
B-Selektonon, Silvaprop, Agricorn D, Acme LV 4, Acme LV 6,
Coprider, D50, DMA 4, Emulsamine, Fernesta, Ferxone, Macondray,
Pennamine, Tributon, Weedatul, Agroxone, Spritz-Hormin,
Desormone, Decamine, Weedar, R-H Weed Rhap 20, and Scott’s 4-XD
Weed Control.[2]
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
===============
[1] Howard M. Hayes and others, “Case-Control Study of Canine
Malignant Lymphoma: Positive Association With Dog Owner’s Use of
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Herbicides,” JOURNAL OF THE
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 83 (Sept. 4, 1991), pgs. 1226-1231.

[2] Product names were gathered from a search on “2,4-D” in the
National Library of Medicine’s online Hazardous Substances Data
Bank; to learn details of this online system, write National
Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894.

[3] Shelia Hoar Zahm and others, “A Case-Control Study of
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the Herbicide
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D) in Eastern Nebraska,”
EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 1 (September, 1990), pgs. 349-256.

[4] Shelia K. Hoar and others, “Agricultural Herbicide Use and
Risk of Lymphoma and Soft-Tissue Sarcoma,” JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 256 (Sept. 5, 1986), pgs.
1141-1147; see
RHWN #3.

[5] A. Blair, “Herbicides and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: New
evidence from a study of Saskatchewan farmers,” JOURNAL OF THE
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 82 (1990), pgs. 544-545.

[6] Olav Axelson and others, “Herbicide Exposure and Tumor
Mortality,” SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF WORK, ENVIRONMENT, AND HEALTH
Vol. 6 (March, 1980), pgs. 73-79.

[7] Mikael Eriksson and others, “Exposure to Dioxins as a Risk
Factor for Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Population-Based Case-Control
Study,” JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 82 (March
21, 199), pgs. 486-490.

[8] Lennart Hardell and Mikael Eriksson, “The Association Between
Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Exposure to Phenoxyacetic Acids,” CANCER
Vol. 62 (Aug. 1, 1988), pgs. 652-656.

[9] Kenneth P. Cantor and Others, “Distribution of Non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphomas in the United States Between 1950 and 1975,” CANCER
RESEARCH Vol. 40 (August, 1980), pgs. 2645-2652.

[10] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff members estimate
that use of 2,4-D “active ingredient” is between 57 and 62
million pounds per year. Federal law does not allow EPA officials
to gather exact data. See PESTICIDE INDUSTRY SALES AND USAGE;
1987 MARKET ESTIMATES (Washington, DC: Economic Analysis Branch,
Biological and Economic Analysis Division, Office of Pesticide
Programs, [U.S.] Environmental Protection Agency, September
1988), Table 9. However “active ingredients” account for only
about 10% of an herbicide like 2,4-D; see Susan Jaffe, Michael
Surgan, and Timothy P. Urban, THE SECRET HAZARDS OF PESTICIDES:
INERT INGREDIENTS (Albany, NY: Office of the Attorney General,
June, 1991), Table 1. Free copies of this Attorney General’s
report are available through the mail by contacting Office of
Public Information, NY State Department of Law, 120 Broadway, NY,
NY 10271. You can try to place a phone order by calling (212)
341-2000.

[11] See, for example, Leslie Roberts, “Monsanto Studies Under
Fire,” SCIENCE Vol. 251 (February 8, 1991), pg. 626. A Monsanto
public relations spokesperson says the company’s studies of
worker health were sound; nevertheless, Roberts reports, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency has recently opened a criminal
investigation to determine whether Monsanto “falsified” three
epidemiological studies of its workers. For further evidence of
concern expressed by government officials, see
RHWN #171.

[12] Ann Aschengrau and Richard R. Monson, “Paternal Military
Service in Vietnam and the Risk of Late Adverse Pregnancy
Outcomes,” AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Vol. 80 (October,
1990), pgs. 1218-1224.

Descriptor terms: 2,4-d; cancer; dogs; inert ingredients;
herbicides; pesticides; farming; occupational safety and health;
studies;

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