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The Chemical Legacy of the “Perfect” Lawn
Dr. Warren Porter
University of Wisconsin - MadisonWednesday, June 11, 2008
On the tenth of February, 1997, in Madison Wisconsin, where I live, the Wisconsin State Journal was running a series of articles on our schools. We have many schools of national excellence in Madison, and we are very proud of them. But this particular issue was entitled, “Cost of Accommodating: As special education grows, so does the cost of staffing.” There was a chart with statistics that are very chilling. From 1990 to 1995, in the Madison school district, by disability we had an increase of 87 percent in the emotionally disturbed category over a five year period. The learning disabilities category jumped 70 percent and birth defects increased 83 percent in a five year period.
This was astonishing, so I began to dig further. We were having big increases in the state of Wisconsin. California was having big increases. Pennsylvania was having big increases. Iran, where my wife is from, was having big increases. Australia, which I had visited a couple of years earlier, was having big increases. Something was happening to our children.
We have known for decades that many pesticides are neurotoxins, they are that way by design. Studies have also shown links between pesticide use and childhood cancers. We have also shown that mixtures of common herbicides and fertilizers found in groundwater can change aggression levels, learning abilities, hormone levels and immune function in rats and mice. Pesticides are a molecular bull in a china shop when they penetrate the human cell. Depending on where they end up in the cell, they can kill it or mutate the genetic coding – and children don’t have the enzymes to defend themselves.
Recently my research team bought one of the most commonly used lawn chemical mixtures right off the shelves of a local store instead of buying ultra-pure active ingredients, which is what EPA registers. We found that the mixture, at miniscule amounts well below what is considered safe by the EPA, could induce abortions and resorptions of fetuses in mice. And of particular importance, we saw things that are not typically seen in toxicology, namely that there was an inverse dose response. That is, the greatest effect was at the lowest dose. This is because natural hormones in the body work at the low parts per billion to parts per trillion dose levels. Our research was only at the high end of the physiological dose range and as we go down in dose we were approaching the most sensitive middle range.
This is a disturbing finding, to say the least. As consumers we are repeatedly told that chemical exposures are too small to cause any harm, and many people are comforted by that thought. Now we have found some chemicals are more toxic at infinitesimal levels than they are in higher quantities. This fundamentally shifts our understanding of toxicology. We can longer hide behind the argument that “the dose makes the poison.” Now, we must face the reality that some poisons are simply poisons and that we have to abandon these chemicals altogether.
As a nation, we spend more than $2 billion dispensing more than 80 million pounds of pesticides on our lawns and gardens, but the tide is shifting. Nevada now offers a $1,000 incentive for homeowners to remove their grass and 80 cities in North America have banned the use of lawn pesticides. Both Ontario and Quebec have banned the cosmetic use of pesticides. Home Depot in Canada is voluntarily pulling pesticides from the shelves and replacing them with safer alternatives. In my hometown of Madison, Healthy Lawn Teams continue to promote pesticide-free neighborhoods and students at the University are pressing for safer lawn care practices on campus.
Each one of us has a role to play in breaking the habit. If you haven’t switched to organic lawn and garden care, now is the time. If you have, now is the time to start working with your neighbors or your local school or hospital.
Get started by visiting the National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns.
Dr. Porter, who has his Ph.D. in Physiological Ecology from UCLA, has been Professor of Zoology and Environmental Toxicology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison since 1986. Dr. Porter's work has been cited in numerous publications and electronic media nationwide and globally. In addition, he has been given countless awards for his work.
Dr. Porter continues to educate people about how current practices tend to hide the dangers of these chemicals from the public. You can read more about his work here. Visit Professor Warren Porter’s web site.
Resources:
Facing Scientific Realities, Debunking the “Dose Makes the Poison” Myth by Warren Porter, Ph.D.
