Perfect Lawns, Is It Worth It?
By Kevin Doberstein, Fri Dec 9th

Have you ever been driving down the road with the windows opengoing past a golf course or a field and then you get a strangesmell? A chemical type of odor? Or go walking in the country andnotice a large area, usually a field, all brown with dead grass.And next to it, alive green grasses and shrubs? Chances are yousmell a herbicide being used or you are seeing what it can do tovegetation.

Then you start to wonder. Are those chemicals getting into thewater table? Is wildlife eating the “treated” vegetation andinsects tainted with the chemicals? Or maybe we are taking inthe toxins and not even realizing it. It could possibly be inthe foods we eat, the air we are breathing everyday or the waterthat we are drinking.

DDT is a colorless contact insecticide that is very toxic. Itbecame banned in the early 1970’s. Gaylord Nelson, a greatenvironmentalist while in office in the state of Wisconsindiliengtly worked to get DDT banned in Wisconsin.

DDT even though restricted is still used in Mexico to controlmalaria. The National Institute of Public Health of Cuernavaca,Morelos, Mexico concluded from a study that the use of DDT hasbeen linked to breast cancer in Mexico. In another study done bythe University of Michigan, it was found that chemical factoryworkers that made DDT also had a high risk of pancreatic cancerfrom the overexposure of DDT. Unfortunately, DDT is still beingmanufactured and used in tropical areas for malaria control.

Below are some of the herbicides used today. This is not acomplete listing of all of the herbicides on the market. Theshort term and long term side effects is based that the MaximumContaminant Level (MCL) goes over a certain marker for parts perbillion (ppb) in the water. For example Simazine is 4 ppb or 4parts per billion in drinking water.

Simazine: Common Trade names: Herbazine, Herbex, Surflan GeneralUses: Corn Crops, Christmas Trees Amount Used Annually: 4.8billion pounds estimated in 1985 Short Term health Effects:weight loss, changes in blood Long Term Health Effects: tremors,damage to testes, kidneys, liver, thyroid, cancer Ground WaterImplications: It may leach to ground water. It can last from afew months to years. (EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Picloram: Common Trade names: Agent White, Tordon General Uses:Control annual weeds Amount Used Annually: 300,000 poundsestimated in 1982 Short Term health Effects: weight loss, damageto the nervous system Long Term Health Effects: liver damageGround Water Implications: It may leach to ground water. It canlast from a few months to years (EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Glyphosate: Common Trade names: Roundup, Sonic, Rodeo,Tumbleweed, General Uses: Used on many food crops and roadsidesAmount Used Annually: 18.7 million pounds recently Short Termhealth Effects: congestion of the lungs, increases breathingrate Long Term Health Effects: kidney damage, reproductiveeffects Ground Water Implications: It strongly adheres to thesoil with little potential for leaching to ground water. (EPAConsumer Fact Sheet)

Endothall: Common Trade

names:Accelerate, Endothall TurfHerbicide, Herbicide 273, General Uses: Used on many food cropsand control aquatic weeds Amount Used Annually: 1.5 millionpounds in 1982 Short Term health Effects: depressed breathingand increase heart rate Long Term Health Effects: increase sizeof some organs. Ground Water Implications: It can leach throughthe soil into the ground water. (EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Dinoseb: Common Trade names:Dow Selective Weed Killer, Hel-fire,Caldon, Knox-weed, Premerge, General Uses: used for cereal cropsAmount Used Annually: 6.2 million pounds in 1982 Short Termhealth Effects: sweating, mood swings, headache Long Term HealthEffects: decreased body and thyroid weight, degeneration oftestes,. Ground Water Implications: It can leach through thesoil into the ground water. Degrades very slowly. (EPA ConsumerFact Sheet)

Atrazine: Common Trade names:Aatex, Candex, Atred, Cyazin,Griffex Primatol, General Uses: used for corn and soybean cropsAmount Used Annually: No figures are known, 2nd highestherbicide used Short Term health Effects: congestion of theheart, lungs, and kidneys, low blood pressure, muscle spasms,weight loss, damage to adrenal glands Long Term Health Effects:weight loss, cardiovascular damage, retinal and muscledegeneration, and cancer Ground Water Implications: It can leachthrough the soil into the ground water. Degrades very slowly.Very powerful herbicide. (EPA Consumer Fact Sheet)

Taking in consideration that municipalities have their watertested on a regular basis, this does not take into account theurban and rural areas with its own private wells. Generally thatis where a lot of herbicide is used for crops. Also in the citylocations one has to take in account the air you breathe.

About the Author: Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and naturewhile hiking in the Wisconsin great outdoors. He is also theowner of Nature Boy Natural Images This web site displays outdoorwildlife and nature photography. He also has the Wisconsin Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog TheWisconsin Outdoor Recreation and Wildlife Blog is for promotingand protecting nature and wildlife resources in the state ofWisconsin.

If you cite this article, use this description for reference:

Doberstein, Kevin 2005, Perfect Lawns, Is it Worth It? TheDangers of Herbicides. Nature Boy Natural Images

Resources:

University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor48109-2029. National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca,Morelos, Mexico. The Bioremediation and Phytoremediation ofPesticide- contaminated Sites Prepared by Chris Frazar NationalNetwork of Environmental Studies (NNEMS) EPA Consumer Fact Sheet

About the author:Kevin Doberstein enjoys wildlife and nature while hiking in theWisconsin great outdoors. He is also the owner of Nature Boy NaturalImages This web site displays outdoor wildlife and naturephotography. The Wisconsin Recreation Outdoors and Wildlife blog