CHLORDANE Banned out of FEAR or FACT

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CHLORDANE Banned out ofFEAR or FACT?

• Created by Jamie D. Palmer
• Issues in Agriculture
• Georgia Agriculture Education Curriculum Office
• November 2005

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What you need to know...

• What is Chlordane and its uses?
• What is its history?
• Why is this important to us?
• Why was Chlordane banned?
• What do the facts say?

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What is Chlordane?

• Man-made mixture of chemicals
• Thick, insoluble liquid

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What were its uses?

• Controlling insects on the farm and at
  home
• Protecting lawns, gardens, and
  most importantly homes

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Protecting the home...
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What is Chlordanes history?

• First commercially produced in 1947
• Public concern rose
• EPA began phase out in 1978 with its use on food
  crops
• All uses were
  banned in 1988

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Why is this important to us?

• 1. Effective pesticides being removed from our
  shelves
• 2. Insect damage to food and homes

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Why is this important to us?

• Effective pesticides are often banned
• Less effective replacements
• Yielding heavier, more frequent applications
• No real solution to the pesticide dilemma

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Why is this important to us?

• Less effective pesticides mean

• Fleas in homes and on pets

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Why was Chlordane banned?

• Liver problems with lab mice fed a diet of
  Chlordane
• Chemical runoff leaving food and water supply
  susceptible to Chlordane

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Why was Chlordane banned?
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Health Effects of Chlordane above the Maximum
Contaminant Level (MCL)

• Short Term

• Lifetime

• Liver
• Kidney
• Heart
• Lungs
• Spleen
• Adrenal Glands
• Cancer

• Central Nervous System
• Blood System

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How are you exposed?

• Exposure comes from three different ways

• Lungs
• Skin
• Ingestion

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Who is exposed?
Those most likely exposed to high levels are

• those who worked in the manufacture of
  Chlordane,
• pest control workers,
• farmers,
• and lawn maintenance workers.

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Who is exposed?

• People are still being exposed
• to Chlordane through

• Chlordane treated homes
• Food
• Water

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Is exposure really a problem?Chlordane Exposure
in the Daily Food Intake

• Allowance
• Infants
• Teenagers
• Adult
• Allowance

• Amount
• 0.0013 ug/kg
• 0.0005-0.0015 ug/kg
• 0.11 ug/kg
• 0.0006 mg/kg

A microgram is one thousandth of a
milligram ug/kg microgram per kilogram body
weight mg/kg milligram per kilogram body weight
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What do the facts say?

• CDC - No harmful effects on health have been
  confirmed in studies of workers who made
  Chlordane.
• ATSDR - There is no link between Chlordane and
  cancer.

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Studies reveal...

• 4-year-old ingested Chlordane
• 24 men studied from a Chlordane factory
• 47-year-old nurseryman daily exposure
• Velsicol Chemical Corporation study

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Velsicol Chemical Corporation

• Table shows US death rates compared to Velsicol
  death rates
• Study also looked at Heart Disease, and Stroke
• Showed no increase of death rates of those workers

Cancer Death Rates
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What else raises red flags?

• Rachel Carsons book - Silent Spring
• Pesticides killing birds
• Painted grim picture of pesticide use
• US Fish Wildlife survey disproved her
  accusations

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Problem in the application...

• The truth is that if pesticides are used
  according to label instructions, they are
  remarkably safe. - William Robertson, director
  of the Washington Poison Center in Seattle
• Most people have no idea that many pesticides
  are extremely potent against pests, with little
  hazard to humans. - Michael Potter, Urban
  Entomologist at University of Kentucky

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What you know now...

• What Chlordane is and its uses
• What is its history
• Why it is important to us
• Why Chlordane was banned
• What the facts say

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To sum it all up...

• Careful examination of pesticides
• People should listen to valid research and make
  informed decisions before listening to
  sensationalist views
• Pesticides are potentially risky, but if
  directions are followed they are rarely hazardous
  to humans

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CHLORDANE

• The End