Government Agency: We Must Reduce Toxics

If lawn chemicals were bad for you, there would be sick people everywhere, because there are lawns everywhere. You organic zealots pounce on the tiniest shred of “evidence” and shout it to the world as if it’s significant. I’m not saying that lawn chemicals can’t be dangerous if someone uses them improperly, but I am saying that day-in and day-out, these chemicals are just as safe as hairsprays, cleaning fluids, all kinds of stuff we use every day.

I was at that New Hampshire hearing that day and Jimmy Campanella from Lawn Dawg made the best point of anyone: People are living longer these days. So how can chemicals really be bad if that simple fact is true, which it is. You know how many insects we’d have flying around if we didn’t have chemicals? Do you know how bad it would be? Do you really want to go back to the dark ages?

You organic lawn guys are on the fringe and that’s where, thankfully, you’re going to stay.

I appreciate your remarks. The idea of lawncare is to promote healthy weed free lawns where possible. Part of this is a thicker stand of turf. That helps define the need. If a property is a thick stand of turf, odds are the weed population is very small, if existent at all so the need to apply herbicide is reduced. The old idea of “blanket spraying” has basically disappeared from most companies. Proper mowing, watering, aeration, etc… will help reduce the “need” for herbicides in the first place. Cost is also a factor in this. Reduction of any pesticide is going reduce costs for a company and well as reduce what you are putting on a property. In the “old” days, we use to do blood testing because of some of the products in use, but now that has almost stopped due to better testing and registration from the EPA on long term affects. This centered on products such as Dursban and Diazinon, which are now banned. I am not saying these products are bad or good, but reduction, not deletion of pesticides has been a growing trend. I believe a lot of this centers around “perception” of the public, not necessarily “facts” of what they can do. As I had stated in a different thread, the industry is in better shape when qualified applicators are using these types of products versus the general public. In addition, educating the public in terms of proper lawn practices will continue to help reduction of pesticide use.

I wish ALL lawncare companies had the same ideals as mine, but only time will tell.

WOW, I am just amazed at the number of people that want to spend their energy on dorogatory statements against people that are trying to inform people of the damaging effects of chemicals.
Insted of being negative, why not change your business to work with the environment and increase you income for you business at the same time.
Being a Florida Native, I have seen the devastating effects of Developers clear cutting the native plants and land only to install St Augustine sod that requires so many chemicals to live that out rivers are dying more and more with alge bloom caused from runoff of chemicals installed on the lawns. (Proven Facts)
The problem starts with the smallest of the food chain and eventually works it way up to people.
I use ONLY native plants in my yard, I work with an Organic Lawn Care company for the small amount of grass that I have in my yard and they also work with me on weed control in my plant beds, garden and bug control in my house. I can assure you that if it works for Florida bugs it will work anywhere else.
It does work. I have had neighbors stop and ask what company I use for my yard. If you do not believe that these things cause cancer, do your research on the amount of people that live their lives 100 % organically and compare the number of them that have cancer to the number of the people who live the typical life using chemicals and you will find the answer.
I hope you will at least look at a different perspective for once and that you will never have to deal with a family member, friend or even yourself having cancer as so many of us have.

Slappy, if all lawn care people were like you then we would most likely not be in these positions today. You sound responsible and run a reputable business. It is the LawnDawgs and the ChemLawns of the world that are going to self destruct the pesticide application business. It is the lies they tell and the wool they pull over their client’s eyes. They completely sell a customer what they want to hear and then switch to the cheapest thing they can do to hit their budgets

Slappy: “Many times it (cancer) is hereditary, which has nothing to do with “chemicals.” –

Above statement is actually this is an over generalized statement and is not true. Cancer is hereditary to and extent but it has everything to do with environmental factors. Studies have show that between identical twins, the environmental factors actually made a huge difference in which DNA genes are expressed or turned on. Cancer can is most likely turned on or off by environmental factors.

Synthetic lawn chemicals i.e. herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers endanger human and animal health and damage the environment. Scientific studies have found numerous negative health consequences associated with the synthetic chemicals found in traditional lawn care products. A report by the National Academy of Sciences shows that the health of 1 in 7 people is negatively impacted in some form by lawn pesticides; numerous studies link lawn chemicals to cancers and other long-term diseases; several studies also link exposure to artificial lawn chemicals to an increased risk of cancer and other health problems in pets. Children are especially at risk for negative health consequences due to their size, physiological development and proximity to the ground. Studies from Yale University, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and several others point to children’s health risks associated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
There is no safe chemical fertilizer, weed killer, or pesticide. Chemical fertilizers poison the environment with their salt base that causes imbalance in the pH of the soil. They cause a toxic buildup of nitrates, contaminating drinking water, rivers, streams, and lakes. They also destroy the good microorganisms in the soil. Synthetic pesticides also poison the environment, some more than others. Some release compounds that become increasingly toxic as they break down in the environment. Some have an accumulative effect and are harmful far beyond the area they were originally applied. Some are longer lasting than others, and some don’t break down for a long time, remaining in the soil or water indefinitely.
TOXIC FERTILIZERS THREATEN HUMAN HEALTH
The toxic substances found in the tested fertilizers have been linked to adverse human health impacts. The metals found in these fertilizers are known or suspected carcinogens, reproductive and developmental, liver, and blood toxicants. For example, beryllium is a suspected carcinogen, chromium and arsenic are known to cause cancer and barium can cause kidney and lung damage.
TESTED FERTILIZERS CONTAIN HARMFUL TOXIC METALS

California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Charitable Trust and Washington’s Safe Food and Fertilizer tested 29 fertilizers from 12 states for 22 toxic metals in dangerous quantities (Aluminum (Al), Antimony (Sb), Arsenic (As), Barium (Ba), Beryllium (Be), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Selenium (Se), Silver (Ag), Thallium (Tl), Thallium (Tl), Uranium (U), and Zinc (Zn). This report documents the results of these fertilizer samples, demonstrates that the problem of toxic fertilizers is widespread, and details concerns with proposed regulations for the practice. Add to this list the thousands of hazardous compounds and then think about yourself, your spouse, your children and your pets.
Labeling is inadequate. Because fertilizer labeling laws only require beneficial nutrients, like zinc or phosphate, to be listed, fertilizers are sold directly to the public and farmers without warnings or information that informs consumers about the presence and quantity of toxic metals. Also, there is no indication on fertilizer labels as to whether or not the fertilizers we tested have been further treated to meet federal land disposal standards.
Each of these metals is suspected or known to be toxic to humans and the environment by the U.S. EPA. Nine metals, like arsenic and lead, are known or suspected to cause cancer and ten metals, like mercury, are linked to developmental effects. Three of the tested metals – lead, cadmium and mercury – are also persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs). PBTs persist for long periods of time in the environment – some indefinitely – and they can accumulate in the tissues of humans and wildlife, increasing the long-term health risks at even low levels of exposure. These three metals cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive problems.
Existing standards for toxic metals in fertilizers are inadequate for protecting our soils, crops, plants, water, air and health. All commercial fertilizers made from recycled materials, such as hazardous wastes, and produced for the general public’s use are subject to the federal Land Disposal Restrictions. The U.S. EPA’s federal Land Disposal Restrictions, which are applied to zinc fertilizers that contain toxic waste, are intended to ensure that toxic substances are properly treated before the waste is disposed of in heavily regulated, lined landfills. Land Disposal Restriction standards are technology-based standards, which mean that they are designed to predict the ability of a hazardous waste to leach from these landfills.
Unfortunately, the recycling of hazardous wastes into fertilizer products does not always include the process of treatment or cleaning of hazardous waste, but rather dilution of the waste. Dilution involves adding substances to a waste to reduce the concentration of toxic substances that are present in the waste. Dilution does not reduce the toxicity of the hazardous constituents.
When chemicals are applied, there is no way to prevent migration from the application site, whether that be down stream, down wind, or leeching into ground water. The harmful impact to birds, wildlife, and aquatic life is becoming more apparent each year with each new study that’s published.