Hidden Dangers of “Inert”
Ingredients in Herbicides
Safe?
See also statement to
city council
http://www.geocities.com/sedonasprayfree/Inert.htm
It
is not widely known that no pesticide manufacturer in the
For further
discussion, see the following excerpt from The Secret Hazards of Pesticides:
Inert Ingredients, Report, Attorney General of New York State, Office of
the Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau, February 1996. Or for the
full report go to: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/inerts96_print.html#secret#secret
Look at any label on a pesticide product and you will find a list of "active" ingredients, with a few long chemical names, and then typically the phrase "inert ingredients," with only a single percentage figure given and no listing of individual ingredients. The active ingredients are the chemicals used to control the target pest and must be listed on the label. The so-called "inert" ingredients are used as carriers for the active ingredients, to help dissolve them, make them easier to apply or to preserve them.
Unfortunately, many people will conclude from the
term "inert" that such ingredients could not possibly have any
adverse health or environmental effects.
This is not the case at all. The chemicals used as inerts include some of the most
dangerous substances known. Some of these chemicals are suspected carcinogens and have been
linked to other long-term health problems like central nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage and birth
defects. They can also cause short-term health effects like eye and skin irritation, nausea, dizziness
and respiratory difficulty…. Although EPA has published a list of chemicals
used as inerts, this list does not tell consumers which products contain these
inerts. Furthermore, pesticide
manufacturers are not required to list all inerts on the product label. Thus,
people must play blind man's bluff when it comes to which inerts might be in the
pesticides they buy or are used where they live, work or play. (Emphasis
added)
Inerts usually make up at least half if not most of consumer pesticide products. For instance, 99.1 percent of Raid's Ant and Roach Killer is inert ingredients and Ortho Diazinon Dust is 96 percent inerts. Of the 85 pesticide products examined by the Attorney General's office, 75 percent contained over 90 percent inert ingredients (see Table 1 on page 7 for a list of these products). Despite the health effects EPA associates with inerts, people do not know to which chemicals they may be exposed since inerts are not identified on the label. Health effects of some inert ingredients are listed in Table 2 on page 9.
Pesticides are widely used throughout the
Continue
the full report at: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/inerts96_print.html#secret#secret
The excerpt below is from the report summary of Worst Kept Secrets: Toxic Inert Ingredients in Pesticides, by Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides.***
Over 650 chemicals that have been
identified as hazardous by federal, state, or international agencies are hiding
behind the misleading word "inert" in pesticide products, according
to a report released by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides.
Worst Kept Secrets:
Toxic Inert Ingredients in Pesticides [PDF 150k] documents the hazards of
so-called "inert" ingredients, over 2,500 substances that are added
to pesticides but are not named on product labels. Regulatory agencies have few
requirements for toxicological or ecological effects testing of inerts. Despite
this lack, the new report shows that over 25% of the chemicals used as
"inerts" actually have been identified as hazardous.
Inerts pose a wide variety of
hazards, according to the new report. Almost 400 inert ingredients are now or
have been used as the active, killing ingredient in pesticides. In addition,
209 are hazardous air or water pollutants, 21 have been classified as
carcinogens, and 127 are occupational hazards. Many have been identified by
more than one statute or agency. For example, the "inert" ingredient
naphthalene is a pesticide active ingredient, a hazardous air pollutant under
the Clean Air Act, and a priority pollutant under the Clean Water Act.
(Full
summary found at http://www.pesticide.org/ActiveInertsRel.html)
*UB
Pesticide Report 2000, Stacey Vaeth, B.A.
Environmental Studies, 2000,
UB Green Office
see www.wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen/content/resources/pesticidereport2000.html
** The
Secret Hazards of Pesticides: Inert Ingredients, Report, Attorney General of
***Worst
Kept Secrets: Toxic Inert Ingredients in
Pesticides, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides,
Worst Kept Secrets: Toxic
Inert Ingredients in Pesticides [PDF 150k]
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