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When I was twelve years old, I had a small, gray-haired kitten named Moey – as in Ennie, Meanie, Miney, and Moey. After my family moved to Great Neck, New York, we often let Moey play outside on our new, big, sprawling lawn. One morning, I let Moey out early, ate my breakfast, then ran outside to find her.

I found Moey curled up in a little ball, dead on the lawn. He had eaten grass from the just-treated lawn and died within minutes from pesticide poisoning. I can’t forget that lawn, white as snow, from the lawn treatment, in the middle of spring. From then on, my parents did their best to make our lawn look beautiful without using dangerous chemicals. With nine children running around, I think they feared the worst.

Enjoying the beauty and tranquility of a home garden and lawn is part of the American dream of home ownership. Many of us want our lawns to look good and feel the pressure of our neighbors when weeds take over or disease spoils the view. We also enjoy the little bit of nature that our yards bring into our lives. All too often, though, we forget nature and resort to the quickest way to perfection. This can have a price both in terms of human health and environmental damage.

The Dangers of Lawn and Garden Pesticides

It’s hard to imagine that the well-groomed, picture-perfect lawn, so much a part of suburban culture, took root in the U.S. only in the last 50 years. The ingredients of lawn success–pesticides and fertilizers–were originally developed after World War II to improve farmers' economic prospects by reducing damage to food crops caused by insects, rodents and disease. These same herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers became popular among home gardeners. They did the job quickly and made it easier to create green, pest-free lawns and bountiful gardens.

However, within a few decades, it became clear that pesticides have costs alongside their benefits. Pesticides are poisons, intended to kill living insects, rodents or plants. By their very nature, most pesticides create some risk to all living creatures, including humans.

Some lawn and garden chemicals have been linked with behavioral problems in children, damage to the nervous system and brain, developmental and reproductive defects, and/or cancers. One study, for example, conducted by North Carolina researchers found a four-fold increase in the risk of soft-tissue sarcoma in children whose yards were treated with pesticides, such as 2,4-D and diazinon–both popular and commonly used in many garden and lawn products.

Children, like my kitten Moey, are more vulnerable to pesticides than adults. That's because they are small and their brains, immune system and detoxification organs are still developing. And, like kittens, children are naturally curious, which leads them to touch and taste everything, including granules in the garden.

Some Specific Lawn and Garden Pesticides and Their Dangers

• 2,4-D, sold under a variety of brand names is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. Americans use nine million pounds of it every year to control lawn and garden weeds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates. Long-term exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to damage to the liver, kidneys, and digestive, muscular and nervous systems. There may also be a link between 2,4-D and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
• Glyphosate is the second most commonly used home and garden herbicide, with 25 million applications in the U.S. made on lawns and in yards annually. If inhaled, glyphosate can cause respiratory, nose and throat irritation, lung congestion and increased breathing rate.

There is much we don't know about many pesticides–a number have not been fully tested, and it often takes decades to discover how dangerous some pesticides truly are. It is difficult to determine what the long-term, cumulative effect of everyday exposures over the course of a lifetime might be. Scientists are learning, too, that even small doses, at critical times during a child’s development, or even during that of an embryo, could have a tremendous impact on that child’s life and long-term health.

Other issues related to lawn and garden pesticide use:

• Pesticides provide quick relief, but do not eliminate the source of problem. While certain pesticides are efficient tools for killing insects and disease, almost all do nothing to deter pests from coming back. To prevent a pest’s return, it is necessary to change the conditions that have allowed the pest to thrive.
• Extensive use of pesticides has led to pesticide resistance in many insects and weed species. Insects and weeds are hardy species that can adapt to survive. This means that after years of contact with commonly used pesticides, many species are no longer killed by them. It takes from two to five pesticide applications today to do the job that just one application accomplished in the 1970s. As a result, many resort to stronger chemicals which may have greater consequences for human and environmental health.
• Harm to non-target species. Pesticides are toxic to many forms of life. Birds and beneficial insects that prey on harmful lawn and garden pests, such as ladybugs, lacewings, praying mantises, and pollinators like honeybees and butterflies can be killed when pesticides are applied. Increasingly, scientists are finding deformed fish and amphibians that may have been impacted by hormone disrupting pesticides in the environment.
• Pesticides drift. Chemicals used on lawns and gardens don’t stay put. They enter groundwater, streams and rivers. Pesticide particles attach to dust and soil, which we bring indoors on our shoes. Pesticides can evaporate into the air, then are carried on currents and deposited many miles away. Many harmful pesticides have been found in species that could not have been exposed through normal use. For example, DDT has been found in the tissue of polar bears and dolphins. By using pesticides, we contribute to environmental damage far beyond our yards.

Gardening and yard work enriches our daily lives with both recreation and relaxation. "Gardening is the purest of human pleasures," said seventeenth century author and philosopher, Francis Bacon. Gardening with your children can be a wonderful way to share your experience of nature with them in an educational and fun setting. It can help your children to develop a life-long love of nature. And doing so without harmful chemicals will keep your kids safe while showing them how to care for the Earth gently.

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