KILL THE BUG but save your life

Eulalee Thompson

CONTRARY TO common talk around town, a clear link between breast cancer risk and exposure to environmental pollutants, such as the pesticide DDE (chemically related to DDT), has not been made by available medical research.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) notes in its publications however, that 'environmental pollution by slowly degraded pesticides such as DDT, a result of past agricultural practices, can lead to food chain bioaccumulation and to persistent residues in body fat.' It is these accumulated residues in the body that are being cited as possible risk factors for breast cancer in women. Studies indicate that the concentrations of pesticide in the body's tissues are low and the ACS notes no conclusive link between these accumulations and illness.

However, while medical science, at this time, can make no conclusive link between cancer and pesticide use, in environmental health, pesticide use is the cause of many symptoms that might mimic other illnesses. Information from the Pesticide Control Authority (a department of the Health Ministry) indicates that many pesticides casually used in homes to kill insects and in agricultural practices to control pests, can enter the body through the mouth, skin and nose and produce a variety of symptoms. Some of the symptoms include stuffy, runny nose, burning sensations on the face, salivation, irritation of the lining of the mouth, dizziness, headaches, disorientation, vomiting, nausea, convulsions, cold sweat, nose bleed and abdominal pains.

There are many kinds of pesticides; some of them are known as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and rodenticides. Pesticides are grouped into classes, such as carbamates, organophosphorous, organochlorine, pyrethroid and anticoagulants. Some persistent organic pollutants, known as POPs, are used as pesticides. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that of all the pollutants released into the environment, POPs are among the most dangerous. They are said to be very toxic, linked to disease, and birth defects in human beings and in animals. Some specific effects noted by UNEP include cancer, allergies and hypersensitivity, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, reproductive disorders and disruption of the immune system.

The strength of POPs but the detriment to human health is that they are highly stable compounds that can last for years or decades before breaking down. Through the 'grasshopper effect' POPs can circulate globally, from its original source in one part of the world to another, through the atmosphere and evaporation.

Among the 12 POPs recognised as requiring the most urgent action are Aldrin (a pesticide), Chlordane (used to control termites and as a broad-spectrum insecticide on a range of agricultural crops), DDT (arguably the most infamous POPs), Dieldrin (used mainly to control termites, textile pests and insect-borne diseases), Endrin ( an insecticide sprayed on the leaves of crops such as cotton and grain and used to control rodents such as mice), Heptachlor (used to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes and soil insects and termites), Mirex (an insecticide used mainly against ants and termites and Toxaphene (an insecticide used on cotton, cereal grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables. The other four POPs, not necessarily pesticides, are Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), Furans and Dioxins.

Concerns about health risks, POPs and pesticides have been ongoing. Even without conclusive evidence, the 1998 UNEP meeting on POPs in Montreal, Canada noted that there is in fact a growing body of scientific evidence indicating that exposure to very low doses of certain POPs can lead to cancer, interference with normal infant and child development, immune system disease and illnesses related to the central and peripheral nervous system.

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