Senators and consumers alike are tired of it. The public has had enough and demands to know….what are the more than 350 inert ingredients used in modern pesticides? According to Silicon Valley’s MercuryNews.com, the legislators introduced on Monday called for “the federal agency to act to protect public health and the environment.”
California politicians Bill Monning (D-Monterrey) and Sen. Mark Leno (D-Sacramento) have introduced the legislation after fears and worries among Santa Cruz and Monterey county residents surfaced in 2007. Aerial spraying began in the counties after fears that California agriculture might be devastated by the invasive light brown apple moth. Read the entire article “Monning pushes feds to release pesticide ingredients”.
As a consumer, I say “better late than never, and I won’t hold my breath”. Pesticide manufacturers should be held as responsible as other manufacturers in the packaging and distribution of their products. It’s frightening to visit the local nursery, Home Depot, or Ace Hardware and find the lack of options as a consumer with respect to natural vs. toxic. In fact, going to the nursery this weekend, I took a look at the endless “options” there were for fertilizers or “weed & feed” products. Being the conscious consumer that I am, first thing I looked at was the ingredients. Of which only 2% were readily disclosed. What were the other 98%? The “inerts”. Ahhhh, how frightening to know that 98% of the product are ingredients that I DON’T KNOW! Not to mention that the 2% active ingredient was Atrazine (of which I had read a news article just days before). Atrazine (the widely used weed killer) has been linked to birth defects and severe health problems in numerous studies.
I am not saying that Atrazine in fact leads to birth defects. Clearly, (well, kind of muddy actually) not enough studies have been conducted to conclude that theory. I am saying, however, that ingredients are important! How on earth can consumers make informed decisions if they don’t know what they are buying. Look at the labels, and know what you (or someone else) are applying in & around your homes, pets, and children.
It’s also interesting to note that EPA exempt pesticides and biopesticides must disclose the full active and inert ingredient list buy percentage weight to be classified as exempt minimum risk pesticides. So, while synthetic pesticide manufacturers can sell you toxic products without disclosing what is in them and what impact it has on you and the environment, non toxic product DO have to disclose the ingredients, leaving them vulnerable to formulator knock offs. Fair playing field? I think not.
