18—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 11, 1974
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ORGANIC LIVING
By
Robert Rodole
SPRAYS THREATEN YOUR RIGHT TO PURITY
Pat Langan was standing in his two-acre garden in Top
penish, Washington, last year when a helicopter spraying a
neighbor’s (arm with a pesticide “accidentally” strayed and
covered the Langan’s garden, as well as Langan himself.
“I was out irrigating at the time, and they covered me from
head to toe,” he says.
Some people might not have minded having their garden
sprayed without ccwrt, even if they did get covered themselves
in the process. But Langan Just happened to be a commercial
organic gardener, whose produce was certified as grown
without the use of toxic chemicals by the Northwest Organic
Food Producers Association. Langan’s customers are very
fussy about food purity, and some go out of their way to get
organically-grown food because of allergies to sprays and
Other chemicals.
Langan suffered financially because his no-longer-organic
crop couldn’t be marketed as planned. Now he faces costly
soil analyses to determine if his garden will meet organic
standards for the coming season, or whether poison residues
still persist.
The Langan case is far from unique. A growing number of
people are trying to create islands of extra purity for
themselves in the sea of environmental contaminants that
grows “richer” each year. Not all are organic gardeners or
fanners. Many are bird watchers, amateur environmental
scientists, or sufferers from allergy problems.
Allergic reactions to poison sprays can range from asthma,
hives and headache to mental aberrations, schizophrenic
like reactions and other behavioral disturbances, according
to Dr. Tberon G. Randolph, a prominent Chicago allergist.
Twelve years after Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring” first
warned of the dangers of toxic pesticides, some progress has
been made, especially the limiting of use of the most
troublesome products, like DDT. But the spray trucks and
aerial applicators keep busing right along, spreading a total
poundage of insect poison that is way ahead of the amounts
used in Rachel Carson’s time. (About one billion pounds
today, compared with 600 million pounds in 1960.)
Ironically, not all pesticide hazards come from outdoor
spraying or dusting. Widely-advertised pesticide strips sold
for fly-killing duty in the home give off a continuous, invisible
stream of DDVP, an insecticide that can affect the human
nervous system in the same way as nerve gases developed
during World War n,
Malathion spraying to control mosquitoes is common in
many parts of the country, even in built-up areas. Yet the
chemical is recognized as toxic to fish and other wildlife; Its
effect on valuable insects such as bees is devastating. "Our
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malathion,” a Rhode Island beekeeper protested to her
state’s governor last fall. “The odor of the poison was still
strong hours later. Our best information that we could obtain
was that the bees could be released in a couple of hours.
However, we did not release them for seven hours. Saturday
evening the front of all hives was drawling with dying bees.
How many did not return, we will not know. ’’
“The high death toll among bees, due to pesticide con
tamination (500,000 hives in California in one year) sounds
the warning knell for all humanity,” says West Coast con
sumer advocate Ida Honorof. -
Isolated cases of human sickness have occurred in the
wake of unannounced malathion fogging of residential neigh
borhoods, when people were caught outdoors. What can you
do to protect yourself and your property?
BE INFORMED. Contact your local agency responsible for
spraying and find out if and when activity is scheduled in
your area.
PROTEST. Advise officials in no uncertain terms that you
oppose any wholesale spraying programs.
ORGANIZE. Alert and mobilize your neighbors, if you can,
Your local Red Rose Dealer can help you
rid your premises of this creature. We have a fly
control program to fit every farmer's need.
• GOLDEN MALRIN SUGAR BAIT
• FATAL FLY CONTAINING DIPTEREX
• KLEEN-KOW
CONTAINING VAPONA
DIRECT SPRAY
• CYGON 2-E RESIDUAL SPRAY
• SIMAX-BACK RUBBER CONCENTRATE
• KOREAN
• CATTLE DUST BAGS
WE ALSO STOCK A COMPLETE SELECTION OF HERD HEALTH NEEDS.
Red Rose
ANIMAL FEEDS
RED ROSE FEED &
FARM SUPPLY
Div. of Carnation
27 N. CHURCH ST.
QUARRYVILLE, PA.
786-7361
PUBLIC
ENEMY NO. 1
Buck, Pa.
284-4464
to make' your ~prbfejf more vocir.'XtTKTvery lea'st,* ask the
agency to exclude your property or neighborhood from its
spraying plans..
Certain weed-killing sprays such as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T are
much more lethal than malathion. They contain a deadly
contaminant, dioxin, which "is some 100,000 to one million
times more potent in its capacity to cause birth defects in the
species tested than thalidomide," according to Dr.
Jacqueline Verrett, a chemist with the Food and Drug Ad
ministration’s Division of Toxicology. Railroad right-of
ways, western range lands, irrigation canals and National
Forests are commonly sprayed with those potent herbicides.
In the Canadian province of British Columbia, government
agencies have suspended the use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T after
growing complaints from the public. Similar usage in
California is being challenged in the courts.
If you’re an organic gardener or farmer whose crops have
been exposed to spray, try to get the following data before
going to court:
1. Applicable local laws relating to spraying. Must sprays
be registered? Must they give prior notice to landowners?
2. Exact weather conditions, especially wind velocity and
direction. Spraying in a strong wind would indicate negligent
conduct by the applicator.
3. Precise nature of the chemical and its special hazards.
Was it applied according to instructions?
4. Test results showing your damaged or contaminated
crops.
"If a series of such cases were to win sizable damages, I
suspect the problem would just about vanish on its own,"
predicts State University of New York Professor Charles F.
Wurster.
Organic gardeners know bow to grow nutritious, high
yielding crops without dangerous pesticides. Discover their
time-proven methods in the 48-page booklet, “Control
Garden Pests Without Poison Sprays." Get your copy by
sending fifty cents to Robert Rodale, Organic Living, in care
of this newspaper. Be sure to ask for the booklet by name.
Please allow four weeks for delivery.
(c) 1974 by The Chicago Tribune. World Rights Reserved.
FARMERS, GROWERS, DEALERS
Are you looking for Black Mulching Plastic??
We can offer different size rolls, 3ft wd. x 100 ft - 500 ft -1000 to
4000 ft. long
Use on Gardens. Sweet Potato Rows. Cantaloupe, Strawberry
Patches
KEEPS WEEDS DOWN. BIGGER YIELDS, No Hoeing.
ZMMERMAN’S Animal Health Supply
3 miles W. of Ephrata along WOODCORNEA ROAD
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s/ A
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215-593-5149
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