Unfortunately, I receive these sorts of emails all the time from parents who are obviously looking for any answers they can find. This woman in particular asked for leads to physicians inside our country who have followed Dr. June Irwin’s lead in testing patients for evidence of pesticide residues.

Moved by her story, I spent some time compiling information on a few notable health care professionals who confirm the pesticide/health issue each day in their practices:

Dr. John Laseter, Accu-Chem Laboratories, 990 N Bowser Rd, Richardson TX 75081
Phone: 972 234-5412

Note: This is where Dr. Irwin sends many of her blood samples when she suspects patients have been chemically injured.

Dr. Walter Crinnion, Healing Naturally, 11811 N.E. 128th Street, Kirkland, WA 98034
Phone: 425-821-8118 Web: www.scnm.edu/walter-crinnion-nd.html

Note: Dr. Crinnion is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-walter-crinnion/organic-food-are-organic_b_558093.html. He also appears regularly in local, regional and national news stories about pesticides in food and the landscape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB9xPfhbSR0. Although I don’t have an personal experience with him and have never talked to an affiliated doctor about him, the reports online indicate Dr. Crinnion trains medical doctors how to check for chemical poisoning.

Dr. William Rea, Environmental Health Center, 8345 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 220, Dallas, Texas 75231
Phone: 214-368-4132 Web: www.ehcd.com

Note: Dr. Rea runs an in-patient detoxification clinic for severely sensitive patients. I’ve met dozens of people across the country who swear by his techniques, although most say you feel worse before you feel better.

Dr. Grace Ziem, 16926 Eylers Valley Road, Emmitsburg, MD 21727
Phone: 301-241-4346 www.mcsbeaconofhope.com/MCS%20BOH/ziem_main.htm

Note: Here is a good interview from Healthline featuring Dr. Ziem: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrMeuzsDWk

Dr. Allen Vinitsky, Enlightened Medicine, 902 Wind River Lane Suite 201, Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Phone: 301-840-0002 Web: http://enlightenedmedicine.net/the_doctor_-_alan_r_vinitsky

Note: Dr. Vinitsky granted this interview to SafeLawns in 2008:

Paul Tukey: How did you become interested in a new way of treating your patients?

Alan Vinitsky: “Dr. William Rea (a double-board certified pediatrician and internist practices at the Environmental Health Center, Dallas) introduced me to Natalie Golos and, eventually, Natalie and I wrote a book together. Natalie, who had herself suffered from pesticide poisoning, had been researching safe living since 1966. She has written five seminal books on environmental medicine and bio-energy therapy.

“After meeting Dr. Rea and Natalie, my practice completely changed from conventional medicine to learning about environmental health and treating our bodies safely using nutrition, avoiding exposure to toxins and knowing what that kind of exposure can do. This is the focus of how I practice medicine today.”

PT: I’ve heard you mention “the accordion reserve.” What is it?

“The accordion model relates to the autonomic nervous system, which is our own stress response – fright or flight. When the accordion is expanded and flexible, then you’re in optimal health. To achieve this, you start with yourself and you create a safe place both in and around your home. To make a safe exterior environment, you stay away from pesticides. Now, of course, if you have neighbors who aren’t doing the right thing, they can potentially contaminate the air and water around you so you have to kind of build a network to make things happen properly.

“One thing that I should point out is that I take care of a lot of kids and adults with chronic diseases and illnesses such as Lyme disease. The deer population has spread in our community and up in your area too — Connecticut is where Lyme disease was first identified. My particular model relates nutrition to helping the autonomic nervous system work better. I developed a combination concept of using vitamins and minerals to help the body deal with stress – both physical and emotional. We work on treating stress first and that helps people start to heal.”

PT: If I take this back to the lawn and landscaping, part of removing that stress, I assume, is getting rid of the toxins — going organic in our landscape, getting rid of the pesticides that kill the insects, kill the weeds, getting rid of synthetic chemical fertilizers. There are very few environmental exposures you can actually control — but what you put on your lawn and landscape is certainly one of them.

AV: “We are talking about creating a safe exterior environment, so stay away from pesticides. Your lawn needs good water, too, and clean air, and if you start with that then you start to improve the situation. Most chemicals are applied as part of weed and feed on the lawn. You or your neighbor puts this stuff down and then your dog runs across the property – they’re tracking toxins into the house. If you’ve got a toddler on the floor and you’re rolling around on the carpet, wrestling, thinking you’re having a good time, not thinking about the pesticide residue on your dog’s paws. Maybe the dog even climbs into bed with you — I wouldn’t do it but a lot of people sleep with their pets. They are sleeping with very poisonous substances.”

PT: Is there enough evidence out there for you to say pesticides and a toxic environment are the reasons behind some of our country’s chronic illnesses?

AV: “You can review Environmental Protection Agency and Center for Disease Control toxicology studies of various substances. So many people are exposed to so many different things. It would be difficult to categorically say this particular substance caused this particular condition, never the less you can say there’s a very strong association with a substance. The connection is move obvious when a patient works in a particular industry where the exposures are high and consistent.

“It’s the cumulative impact of multiple exposures that cause the greatest problems. When a new patient walks into the office I begin treatment immediately – clean air, clean fuel, clean water.

“It turns out that our bodies use up vitamin B12 and folic acid, and an amino acid called glutathione. These three are scavengers in our bodies and they work on the chemical assembly lines called enzymes. They actually clean up the stress and when we start to clean up the stress then the body starts to function better. In addition, we find all kinds of other deficiencies. I see amino aced and nitrogen deficiencies in infants and toddlers. I see it in older folks, even when they are eating a mixed diet of meat sources and plant sources. Almost everybody is deficient when they have chronic illness. So we work on straightening out the amino acids and when you get nitrogen sufficiency then people start to feel better.”

RECOMMENDED READING: In Energy – the Essence of Environmental Health by Dr. Alan Vinitsky and Natalie Golos, plus Coping With Your Allergies, by Natalie Golos

MEDIA ADVISORY
December 10, 2009
For immediate release

CONTACTS:
Tracey Brieger, Californians for Pesticide Reform
Cell: 415.215.5473

Paul S. Towers, Pesticide Watch
Cell: 916.216.1082

Scientists, workers & mothers to rally against new carcinogen for California strawberries

Multinational pesticide corporation pushing potent carcinogen and water contaminant in California; State regulators’ decision expected in coming weeks

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Concerned scientists, farmers, and community members from across the state will march and rally in Sacramento on Monday, December 14th to oppose the potential registration of a new fumigant pesticide. If chemical manufacturers get their way, methyl iodide, a potential groundwater contaminant, carcinogen and miscarriage-inducer could be applied to thousands of acres of California’s strawberry fields by January.

Californians are greatly disturbed by the actions of the multinational pesticide corporation Arysta LifeScience North America. The largest privately held agrichemical company in the world and methyl iodide manufacturer, Arysta has launched a concerted campaign to influence California regulators’ decision on the chemical, expected in the coming weeks. The public relations firm Peritus, who lists Arysta LifeScience as one of its leading clients, has launched an effort to characterize methyl iodide opponents—including doctors, farmers, mothers, farmworkers and world-renowned scientists—as extremists in order to get access to California’s lucrative market.

The use of methyl iodide in agriculture has raised significant concern from scientists across the country, including five Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, who were “astonished” that a chemical posing such high risks to human health would be considered for use in agriculture. Methyl iodide is a water contaminant, nervous system poison, thyroid toxicant and is listed on California’s Proposition 65 list of “chemicals known to cause cancer.”

“Methyl iodide is toxic in so many ways,” said Dr. Susan Kegley, a scientist with Pesticide Action Network North America. “But the effect of greatest concern is the pesticide’s ability to cause fetal deaths late in pregnancy. The Schwarzenegger administration has a very serious choice to make: are they going to allow the use of a pesticide that has a high probability of causing late-term miscarriages in women who live or work near methyl iodide applications? If they permit the use of this chemical in California’s fields, that’s the swamp they are stepping into.”

Methyl iodide poses the most direct risks to farm workers and neighboring communities. In California, the chemical would be primarily used on strawberry fields at rates up to 175 lbs per acre. With 38,000 acres of strawberries currently in production in California, five to 10 million pounds of methyl iodide could be used statewide. Like all fumigants (pesticides that readily become gases), methyl iodide drifts from its intended target, despite any efforts to contain it.

“Why is methyl iodide even being considered?” asked Teresa DeAnda, President of the community group El Comité Para el Bienestar de Earlimart. “We will not let the agrochemical industry’s greenwashing earn Arysta tremendous profits while we – as farmworkers and community members – are given cancer like lab rats.”

Concern over the potential registration of methyl iodide isn’t limited to scientists. In August, Assemblymember Bill Monning (Carmel) and Senator Mark Leno (San Francisco) co-authored a letter signed by 33 state legislators in opposition to the proposed use of this new fumigant in California. Growers also affirm that the use of methyl iodide is not necessary.

“I’ve been growing strawberries without using pesticides in California for 25 years,” said Jim Cochran, owner of Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport, California. “It’s certainly possible to grow commercially-viable and ecologically sound strawberry crops without using methyl iodide or any other chemical pesticides.”

Methyl iodide was registered nationally under the Bush Administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, automatically registering it in a number of states that don’t conduct independent scientific reviews. California has its own review process for all new pesticides, and is currently considering methyl iodide for registration.

The California Department of Pesticide Registration (DPR) has convened a Scientific Review Panel led by Professor John Froines at the University of California, Los Angeles, to examine DPR’s science in assessing the risks of the chemical. DPR may issue a decision any time in the coming weeks, whether or not they have received the final report from the Scientific Review Panel.

Pending results of California’s scientific review, U.S. EPA is reconsidering their decision to allow the chemical to be used in other states. According to U.S. EPA, methyl iodide is only being used in seven states. In New York, Arysta pulled its request to register the chemical because the state asked tough questions on health and environmental impacts – and because the New York market for the chemical is small. Like California, Washington State is also in the process of reviewing the risks of methyl iodide.

Rally & News Conference details:

WHEN: Monday, December 14, 2009
11:15am: Rally at Cesar Chavez Park
10th & “I” Streets, Sacramento

11:50am: March to Capitol Building

12:15pm: News conference at South steps of Capitol Building
(“N” Street side)

WHO: Speakers include:

· Martha Guzman-Aceves, Legislative Advocate, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
· California Assemblymember Bill Monning
· Marilyn Lynds, Spokesperson and Resident, Moss Landing Heights Neighborhood
· Other speakers, TBA (including farmworkers)

When it comes to spraying along highways, waterways, railroad tracks and everyday byways, that choice belongs to someone else. Municipal workers are putting the stuff down; elected officials are paying the bills . . . and the rest of us are paying the price.

I came across this article in a Hawaiian newspaper today; it spells out the issues at hand quite well: http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2009/12/02/read/news/news03.txt

That is just one of the many responses I received from this individual who agreed to be interviewed for the movie, A Chemical Reaction. His name will remain anonymous until the new year.

You can check back here regularly, however, for excerpts from our interview.

Check on this link: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/09/15/pesticides-linked-to-parkinsons.html