Need Proof?
Read This Research Before Using Chemicals On Your Lawn or Garden
© Candace Mayer LaRue 2002
Chemicals commonly used on home gardens and lawns include herbicides and pesticides. These chemicals have been linked to a wide range of illnesses including asthma, breast cancer, cancer and immune system disorders. Listed below are examples of scientific studies that suggest you are risking your life and the lives of those you love every time you get out the chemical sprays.
1. A study published in the March 1999 Journal of American Cancer Society reveals clear links between the world's most widely used herbicide (glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. (1)
2. Another study finds that children whose homes and gardens are treated with pesticides have 6.5 times greater risk of leukemia than children living in untreated environments. (2)
3. Studies show increases in soft tissue sarcomas (STS), malignant lymphomas, and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in farmers in Nebraska (3), Kansas (4), and Saskatchewan (5), and workers in Sweden (6-8), using 2,4-D (a commonly used herbicidal agent) on crops and to clear weeds along railroad tracks.
4. A study in Israel highlighted the connection between breast cancer and pesticide usage (9) so strongly that it led to the ban the use of three pesticides named in the study.
5. Herbicides put our four legged friends in danger too. According to a study published in the JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE dogs whose owners use weed killers are dying of cancer at twice the normal rates.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the existing studies that show you should learn to love the weeds in your yard and garden! If you need more convincing, visit the website of the Pesticide Education Center. Their website includes summary information from hundreds of studies linking pesticides to cancer in children and in adults. While you are there, check out the extensive resources for alternatives to using chemicals. http://www.pesticides.org
FOOTNOTES:
1. Lennart Hardell, M.D., PhD. Department of Oncology, Orebro Medical Centre, Orebro, Sweden and Miikael Eriksson, M.D., PhD, Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, 'A Case-Control Study of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Exposure to Pesticides', Cancer, March 15, 1999/ Volume 85/ Number 6.
2. Rea, William J., 1996, Pesticides. Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 6, 55-124.
3. Shelia Hoar Zahm and others, "A Case-Control Study of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and the Herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D) in Eastern Nebraska," EPIDEMIOLOGY Vol. 1 (September, 1990), pgs. 349-256
4. Shelia K. Hoar and others, "Agricultural Herbicide Use and Risk of Lymphoma and Soft-Tissue Sarcoma," JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Vol. 256 (Sept. 5, 1986), pgs. 1141-1147; see RHWN #3.
5. A. Blair, "Herbicides and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: New evidence from a study of Saskatchewan farmers," JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 82 (1990), pgs. 544-545.
6. Olav Axelson and others, "Herbicide Exposure and Tumor Mortality," SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF WORK, ENVIRONMENT, AND HEALTH Vol. 6 (March, 1980), pgs. 73-79.
7. Mikael Eriksson and others, "Exposure to Dioxins as a Risk Factor for Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Population-Based Case-Control Study," JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 82 (March 21, 199), pgs. 486-490.
8. Lennart Hardell and Mikael Eriksson, "The Association Between Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Exposure to Phenoxyacetic Acids," CANCER Vol. 62 (Aug. 1, 1988), pgs. 652-656.
9. J. Westin and E. Richter " Israeli Breast Cancer Anomaly", Annals of the New York Academy of Science 609 (1990). 269-279.
10. Howard M. Hayes and others, "Case-Control Study of Canine Malignant Lymphoma: Positive Association With Dog Owner's Use of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Herbicides," JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE Vol. 83 (Sept. 4, 1991), pgs. 1226-1231.
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