Transcript Why Watersheds? - For Your Information

Food panel
September 5, 2013
Lynn Markham
UW-Extension
UW-Stevens Point
Questions
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What is your current work focused on and
how does it relate to emerging needs in food
systems work?
What role can Extension play in addressing
these emerging needs?
Why food?
Chemist
testing
drinking water
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How did these
chemicals get
in our drinking
water?!
It’s what’s
happening on
the land!
I’ve been growing & preserving food since I was little – family tradition
I love to eat good food & am used to garden-fresh
I want to minimize my own chemical exposures – I have enough past
exposures as a chemist & farmworker
I want healthy food for my kids
It’s fun finding frogs & butterflies in our garden
Current work
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Blend of professional and personal work
Website: Protecting Wisconsin’s Groundwater
(Drinking water)
Education about pesticide use & health effects in WI
– Wisconsin Land Use Megatrends: Agriculture
– Reducing Pesticide Exposure in your Food & Water
How much pesticide is applied
per acre?
Average pounds of pesticides applied per acre
in Wisconsin
30
No pesticide data
available for
cranberries which
are grown on
19,000 acres in WI
28
25
20
13
15
10
5
0
8
8
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
<1 <1
Pesticide Application Map
Based on 2005 avg pesticide application per crop
After pesticides are sprayed
in a field, where do they go?
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Ideally, pesticides would
harm only the target pest
and then break down into
harmless substances
Pesticides are found in:
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Food
Air
Drinking water
Soil
Which foods have the highest &
lowest pesticide risks?
Pick 5 servings
a day from the
dirty dozen and
you will
consume an
average of 14
different
pesticides.
Choose 5
servings from
the Clean 15
and you'll
consume fewer
than 2
pesticides.
Source: USDA data
Dietary risks calculated
by Environmental
Working Group
What do these photos have in common?
Interview
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/21/135605139/m
others-pesticide-exposure-linked-to-kids-iqs
Role of Extension for emerging
needs
Provide learning opportunities about
 Food growing practices and local farms
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Expanding research field about health effects of
pesticides, especially how they affect children’s
ability to learn
Ways to support sustainable farming
– Various types of CSAs
– Health insurance rebates for CSA members
– Local investment club focused on farmers
and food entrepreneurs
Bedfod Falls
DEPTH BELOW GROUND SURFACE (feet)
Municipal
Well
Monitoring Wells
Private Well
0
water table
water flow direction
20
40
upper sandstone
aquifer
100
120
confining shale layer
lower sandstone
aquifer
260
Ag-chemical
plume
What are the health effects
of agricultural pesticides?
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Cancer
Changes reproductive systems
Birth defects
Difficulties learning: ADHD and lower IQs
Why care about
pesticides in your food?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Your health
The health of children you may have
in the future
Health of people who grow your food
Health of people in your community –
drinking water safety
Health of other animals: fish, frogs,
bees, etc.
Fruits & vegetables grown in the U.S.
have lower pesticide risks than
imported foods (except green beans)
Dietary Risk Index for Imported vs. Domestic Fruits and Vegetables
800
600
500
Imported DRI
400
Domestic DRI
300
200
100
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Dietary Risk Index
700
2008 report by The Organic Center based on data from the USDA
Pesticide use on
WI crops
Annual use on major
agricultural crops:
• 13 million pounds of
pesticides in WI
• Over 2 pounds per
person
Source: Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service, 2004-05 data
After pesticides are sprayed
in a field, where do they go?
Science has found they:
 contact farmworkers during
application
 attach to soil and get tracked
into homes
 evaporate into the air, and
drift for miles depending on
dust & wind conditions
 remain on/in the plant that
becomes food
 run off into lakes or streams
 soak into groundwater
Agricultural pesticides in WI
private drinking water wells
Estimate that 1/3
of private drinking
water wells in WI
contained a
pesticide or
pesticide
metabolite
Percent of private wells
containing pesticides
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Percent cultivated land v. percentage
of private wells containing pesticides
50
40
30
20
10
0
<15%
cultivated
15-50%
51-75%
>75%
cultivated
cultivated
cultivated
Percent of land in cultivation
Metolachlor ESA
Alachlor ESA
Agricultural pesticides in WI
private drinking water wells
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Wells in areas with more
cropland were more likely
to contain pesticides, and
often contained a mixture
of multiple pesticides
Very little is known about
the health effects of being
exposed to a mixture of
pesticides
Drinking water standards
for pesticides used in WI
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Wisconsin farmers reported using 90
different pesticides in the 2005
growing season
Only 16 of these pesticides have
drinking water standards. We don’t
test for the other 74 pesticides.
Babies & children are more
vulnerable to pesticides
Because…
 Their bodies are developing and growing,
from one cell into a whole person
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They consume much more food and
water per pound of body weight than
adults
Babies and children do not have the same
levels of defensive enzymes present as
adults, so they are less able to detoxify
the pesticides when exposed. OP
pesticide detoxification enzymes
increase at least until age 7.
Of 14
pesticides
used on corn,
6 pesticides
are unknown
or possibly
cause cancer
Health: Cancer
Field corn
Herbicides
Acetochlor
Atrazine
Clopyralid
Dicamba, Sodium salt
Diflufenzopyr-sodium
Dimethenamid-P
Flumetsulam
Glyphosate
Glyphosate iso. salt
Mesotrione
Nicosulfuron
Rimsulfuron
S-Metolachlor
Insecticide: Tefluthrin
Potatoes
Herbicides
Linuron
Metribuzin
Pendimethalin
Rimsulfuron
S-Metolachlor
Insecticides
Bifenthrin
Esfenvalerate
Imidacloprid
Novaluron
Thiamethoxam
Of 24 pesticides
used on potatoes,
3 pesticides are
known or likely to
cause cancer +
8 unknown/possible
Potatoes
Potatoes
Fungicides
Fungicides (cont.)
Azoxystrobin
Pyraclostrobin
Boscalid
Triphenyltin hydrox. (51
Chlorothalonil (96%) Zoxamide
Copper hydroxide
Other Chemicals
Cymoxanil
Diquat dibromide
Difenoconazole
Maleic Hydrazide
Famoxadone
Mancozeb (66%)
Mandipropamide
Mefenoxam
Propamocarb Hydroch
Known or likely to cause cancer
Unknown or possibly causes cancer
Not likely to cause cancer in humans according to the 2010 EP
Lawn pesticides
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The EPA reviewed the top 10 lawn and garden pesticides:
1 is likely to cause cancer, 4 may cause cancer, and 4
others are unknown
Table 1: Top 10 home and garden pesticides
Pesticide
Type Pounds of active
ingredient used in
the U.S. in 2007
2,4-D
H
8-11 million
Glyphosate (Roundup) H
5-8 million
Carbaryl
I
4-6 million
MCPP
H
4-6 million
Pendimethalin
Pyrethroids
Malathion
H
I
I
3-5 million
2-4 million
2-4 million
Dicamba
Trifluralin
Pelargonic Acid
H
H
H
1-3 million
1-3 million
<1 million
Potential to cause cancer (EPA)
Not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity
Evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans
Likely to be carcinogenic to humans
Suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity, but not
sufficient to assess human carcinogenic potential
Possible human carcinogen
Permethrin is likely to be carcinogenic to humans
Suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity, but not
sufficient to assess human carcinogenic potential
Not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity
Possible human carcinogen
?? EPA has not evaluated
Atrazine – a common pesticide
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1.7 million pounds were
applied to 2.4 million acres
of corn in WI in 2010
Detected in 25% of private
wells in WI
Germany & Italy banned
atrazine in 1991; EU
banned it in 2004 using the
precautionary principle
Atrazine – a common pesticide,
used for decades
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Linked to cardiovascular damage &
reproductive difficulties in some
people who are exposed over the
health standard for many years (EPA)
Atrazine – a common
pesticide, used for decades
Recent study from Fall 2011:
 Women exposed to atrazine in their drinking water
below the health standard of 3ppb were associated
with
– more menstrual cycle length irregularity
– more instances of greater than 6 weeks between periods
– reduced mid-luteal phase urinary metabolites of
progesterone; insufficient progesterone impairs
implantation and leads to infertility and repeated
spontaneous abortions
Cragin, LA et al. Menstrual cycle characteristics and reproductive
hormone levels in women exposed to atrazine in drinking water.
Environmental Research, 2011 Nov; 111(8):1293-301. Epub 2011 Oct 13
Atrazine – a common pesticide,
used for decades
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Reduces reproduction in fish
by 19-39% at levels near the
drinking water standard
Male frogs exposed to 1/30th
of drinking water standard as
tadpoles developed both male
and female sex organs
Hayes et al. Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at
low ecologically relevant doses. PNAS . 2002 vol. 99 no. 8, 5476-5480
Tillitt et al. Atrazine reduces reproduction in fathead minnows. Aquatic Toxicology. 2010 .
99:2:149-159.
Health: Learning in
farmworkers’ children
Exposed
Not exposed
Unexposed
Exposed
Children exposed to
pesticides were the
same physical size
but had reduced
 eye-hand
coordination
 30-minute
memory
 ability to draw a
person
Guillette, et al. 1998. EHP,
106 (6): 347-353.
Health: Organophosphates
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Organophosphates (OP) are a group of insecticides that kill
insects by irreversibly inactivating an enzyme that is essential
to nerve function in insects, humans, and many other animals
Found commonly in:
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Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Cranberries
Grapes
Peaches
Mushrooms
Wheat
Celery
Corn grain
Green beans
Almonds
Study found rinsing produce
did not reduce levels of
chlorpyrifos, a common OP
OPs & learning in mice
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Research by Warren Porter
and his grad students at
UW-Madison has found that
dosing female mice with
chlorpyrifos leads to
daughters that are slow
learners – afraid & hesitant
“We’re dosing our kids with
neurotoxins like
chlorpyrifos, and then we
wonder why they’re having
trouble learning and
concentrating,” said Warren
Porter
Haviland et al. 2009. Reproductive Toxicology
Health: OPs & IQ
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Chlorpyrifos is found in amniotic fluid
and crosses the placenta into the baby
Prenatal exposure is linked to smaller
head size, lower birth weight and
attention problems
Studies in urban and rural areas found
that children born to mothers with
higher levels of organophosphate
pesticides in their urine during
pregnancy had lower IQ scores at ages
2-3 and 6-9
Bouchard, M.F. et al. 2011. Rural agricultural children; Salinas Valley, CA
Engel, S.M. et al. 2011. Inner city children; NYC
Rauh, V. et al. 2011. Inner city children; NYC
Good news
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“Organic” means grown
without synthetic pesticides.
“Natural” has no definition.
When children ate organic fruits, vegetables,
juices and corn/wheat products, they had
much lower pesticide levels in their urine
Lu et al., Organic Diets
Significantly Lower
Children’s Dietary Exposure
to Organophosphorus
Pesticides
EHP, Feb 2006
Conclusions
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We are what we eat
Some common pesticides are known to
cause cancer, affect reproduction, and
limit the ability of children to learn
We know very little about the long-term
health effects of most pesticides or
mixtures of pesticides
When pesticides are applied to the land,
they affect the health of
– Our food
– Our drinking water
– Us & our children
– Farmworkers
– Animals including frogs, birds & bees
If you know of a group that
might be interested in this
presentation, please talk
with me
Thank you!!
Comments?
Questions??
Lynn Markham
UW-Extension
UW-Stevens Point
715.346.3879
[email protected]
Exercise: Design a low pesticide
menu that’s affordable
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See farm fresh atlas
Use your own experience related to
other sources of food and menu
planning
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Design a menu
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