Home Owners Boards: No One Can Know Safety of Weed and Feed Formulas

To my Home Owners Association Board:

Does anyone on the board really know about the pesticides used on our lawns and grounds? There is plenty more current information linking these products with very serious health issues but for now, this is concise and easy reading.

 http://www.ehhi.org/reports/lcpesticides/ 

Please read this link in its entirety. These pesticides (2,4-D, etc.) are toxic and are highly volatile, vaporize easily and carried by air and water drift, off target, for miles and for days.

The purveyors of the weed and feed formulas do post signs stating the pesticides applied. But, despite labeling, there are hidden materials within these pesticides (inerts, manufacturers' trade secrets), which are unknowns. Also, the businesses that put these chemicals down cannot say that they are safe and they certainly cannot tell you when it is safe to set foot on the turf. No one has such answers. There have not been complete studies of the individual pesticides as well as the combinations for their effects on human or environmental health. 

Let us stop blindly following an unsafe protocol for lawn/land care.


 

EHHI :: Risks from Lawn Care Pesticides

EPA permits over 200 different pesticides to be used for lawn care, and these are often mixed together and sold as chemical combinations. They are intentionally toxic substances.

ehhi.org

MCPP is in the potion that the lawn chemical applicator has been using for years at our home owners association. But, 2,4-D is also in it and it is one of the most toxic herbicides ever made. Dicamba is in it, too and it ain't safe. None of these have been thoroughly tested alone or together and there are many more chemicals in the mix that are manufacturers trade secrets. It is mind boggling that anyone could possibly trust their use. These lawn chemical formulas are a threat to human health, not unlike  Glyphosate (RoundUp). All of these creations have been linked to serious and devastating health issues from Cancer to Endocrine Disruption and Celiac Disease/gastrointestinal illnesses, not to mention Parkinson's and neurological disorders. 

  



 Lawn-care pesticides are not tested for their chronic health effects, unless they are also licensed for food uses.7 The third most heavily used herbicide in the U. S., MCPP, has not been fully tested for chronic health effects since it is not allowed for use on foods. MCPP is commonly found in weed and feed products

EPA has tested only nine of 750 registered pesticides for their effects on the developing nervous system; six of the nine tested were more harmful to young animals than adults.

Pesticides are composed of active ingredients and inert ingredients. Some inert ingredients may be more toxic than active ingredients and can comprise 90 to 95 percent of the product. Some inert ingredients are suspected carcinogens, while others have been linked to central nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and some short-term health effects 

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/lcpesticides/summary.shtml#top