Home Cleaning & Maintenance Think Twice Before Spraying Chemicals on Your Property

Think Twice Before Spraying Chemicals on Your Property

803
0
SHARE
Glenn Hasek

It has been almost eight years since I moved down to Florida from Ohio. One of the most common sights I noticed quickly when I moved here was the lawn service trucks. Just about everybody uses them to keep their lawns green, growing and weed and pesticide-free. The volume of chemicals poured on the state each year must be a staggering number.

Soil is a common pathway to groundwater, and soil characteristics determine the rate at which chemicals move through it. Of course, in Florida the soil is mostly sand—very porous. The chemicals sprayed here feed algae and kill fish.

Perhaps the threat of greatest concern anywhere where lawn chemicals are used is damage to human health through groundwater contamination. Residents in many rural and suburban areas rely on groundwater for their drinking water supply. In North Carolina, for example, more than 50 percent of the population uses groundwater as a source of drinking water.

How much do you pay attention to what you or your suppliers apply to the grass on your property?

Helpful Factsheets, Infographic

The national environmental and public health group Beyond Pesticides recently released its health and environmental effects factsheets and infographic for “40 Commonly Used Lawn Pesticides.” These comprehensive factsheets document with scientific citations a wide range of diseases and ecological effects linked to pesticides. The underlying analysis supporting the adverse health and environmental effects identified in the factsheets are based on toxicity determinations in government reviews and university studies and databases.

What do the two factsheets disclose? Health Effects of the 40 Most Commonly Used Lawn and Landscape Pesticides reveals that 26 are possible and/or known carcinogens, 24 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system, 29 are linked to reproductive effects and sexual dysfunction, 21 have been linked to birth defects, 24 are neurotoxic, 32 can cause kidney or liver damage, and 33 are sensitizers and/or irritants. Environmental Effects of the 40 Most Commonly Used Lawn and Landscape Pesticides shows that 21 are detected in groundwater, 24 can leach into drinking water sources, 39 are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms vital to our ecosystem, 33 are toxic to bees, 18 are toxic to mammals, and 28 are toxic to birds.

The factsheets distill a large amount of scientific data. For example, the main chemical ingredient in Roundup—glyphosate—is the world’s most widely used herbicide. The factsheet identifies glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen, based on finding of the World Health Organizations’ (W.H.O.) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Additionally, research has linked glyphosate to high rates of kidney disease in farming communities and to shortened pregnancy in a cohort of women in the Midwest. Animal studies and bioassays link it to endocrine disruptionDNA damagedecreased sperm functiondisruption of the gut microbiome, and fatty liver disease. Glyphosate is also linked to environmental damage. The EPA warms that glyphosate can injure or kill 93 percent of U.S. endangered species. It is a primary driver of the decimation of monarch butterfly populations because it destroys the milkweed plants their young depend on. Recent research has also shown that glyphosate can disrupt honeybee gut microbiomes, affect larval development, increase colony vulnerability to pathogen infestation, reduce productivity, and impair honeybee navigation, linking the herbicide to declines in bee populations.

The California Supreme Court just upheld a $87 million award in a glyphosate damage lawsuit.

Gateway on Pesticide Hazards

In addition to the factsheets, Beyond Pesticides manages the Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management (Pesticide Gateway) and Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database to track the scientific literature and the federal and state regulatory process governing pesticides. Additionally, the organization manages a database, ManageSafe, to address nontoxic methods for common pest management issues.

Be sure to check out the helpful resources mentioned above before applying chemicals to the greenery on your property.

Glenn Hasek can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Who is Your Sustainability Champion?

Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Looking for Guest Columnists

Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Get in the Green Suppliers Spotlight!

Green Lodging News, lodging’s leading environmental news source, publishes Green Suppliers Spotlight, an e-blast to 22,688 subscribers that features the lodging industry’s leading green products and services. The e-blast features multiple vendors—unlike the current Green Supplier Spotlight that allows one supplier to “own” the Green Lodging News subscriber list for one e-blast. (Click here for a Green Suppliers Spotlight sample.)

Green Suppliers Spotlight is published weekly on Thursdays to general managers, owners, management companies, directors of sustainability, directors of engineering, facilities managers and many others who are either in purchasing positions or who influence purchasing decisions. Suppliers of green products and services throughout North America and beyond are invited to participate in the e-blast. (Minimum two suppliers per e-blast.) Green Suppliers Spotlight was created to give vendors an opportunity to reach a high number of industry purchasers at a very low cost—as low as $200 per e-mail. (Click here for rate sheet.)

Those advertising in Green Suppliers Spotlight can include up to 100 words, one image, contact information and multiple links to their website in their ad. At the end of each month, a report will be sent to each supplier with information on delivered e-mails, opens and click-throughs. The Green Suppliers Spotlight has been exceeding a 20 percent open rate!

Planning Advertising for 2021 or 2022?

Green Lodging News is accepting reservations for advertising spots for 2021 and 2022. Many excellent spots are available on our website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Many Green Supplier Spotlight dates are also available. Interested in receiving a 2021 or 2022 media kit? Be sure to contact me as soon as possible at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com. Media kits can also be accessed by clicking here. Thank you to all those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.

Newsletter & Green Supplier Spotlight Circulation

The circulation of our weekly e-newsletter and Green Supplier Spotlight currently stands at 22,688. Thank you to our new subscribers for signing up. Be sure to encourage your colleagues to do the same. There are “subscribe” links on the Green Lodging News home page. You may also e-mail greenlodgingnews@gmail.com to be added to our list.

Green Lodging News & Social Media

Green Lodging News now has 1,753 Twitter followers. Thank you to all of those who follow our tweets. In addition to following us on Twitter, be sure to bookmark the Green Lodging News Blog in your browser. More importantly, participate with your comments. Green Lodging News is also on Facebook. Be sure to “Like” us there. Green Lodging News now has 975 Facebook likes.

As always, I can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

LEAVE A REPLY