Before you stretch out on (or let your kids run barefoot through) that green grass, consider that it may be blanketed with toxic pesticides. “The commonly used insecticides are all chemical cousins of the wartime gas sarin, which was used in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack,” says Philip J. Landrigan, MD, chairman of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. “And the commonly used herbicides are chemical first cousins of Agent Orange, which was used in Vietnam.” So, that “healthy” lawn has the potential to increase your family’s risks of cancer or neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. That’s partly because lawn-care pesticides “aren’t selective killers,” explains Jennifer Sass, PhD, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, D.C.—many can have an impact on your health. And they don’t just pose theoretical risks, Carpenter adds: “One of the slides I use in my class shows the rates of childhood leukemia in relation to whether or not pesticides were used in the home, herbicides were used on the lawn, and DEET was used as a mosquito-repellent. The only one that didn’t increase cancer risks was DEET.”
There is good news, though: More and more towns are enacting neighbor-notification laws, requiring residents to issue warnings before spraying so people can shut their windows or even clear out with their kids and pets. (The health danger lasts for days for the commonly used insecticides and weeks for the herbicides.) If your town doesn’t have this law on the books, consider lobbying for it, Sass says. Meanwhile, ask neighbors to let you know when they’re spraying—and what they’re using. To learn more about these chemicals, check out the Pesticide Action Network North America’s Web site, www.panna.org.
On your own turf, do only integrated pest management (IPM), a gentler, environmentally sensitive way of preventing, monitoring, and controlling pests. (Visit www.ipm.ucdavis.edu or search www.ipmcenters.org for more info.) Safer ecofriendly and organic lawn sprays and other nonchemical options—from aphid-eating ladybugs to heat (electrocution) for termites—are surprisingly effective. Caveat: You may not have the most manicured lawn on the block. But to keep your family safe, Landrigan says, “You have to learn to live with a few dandelions.”
By Alexandra Zissu
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Comments (7)
Aphid eating ladybugs? Those nice ladybugs of old lore (the ones we all knew while growing up)are now those ‘Japanese Ladybeetles’ that were collected and released here (said to be a Dept of Ag project)to disastrous effect! They invade homes around here every year and worse, they do NOT eat the aphids but they will pinch you. They also seem to try ,to get into everything. Whatever happened to the kinder, gentler Ladybug? Apparently these new creatures killed ‘em all(?). I wouldn’t miss ‘em if they disappeared tomorrow.
Pulling weeds while the kids play is good for everybody…no pesticides(weed killer). You get exercise, and the kids get much needed outdoor play time. My yard was it’s most beautiful when my children were young, because i went out each day and puttered while they played.
Aphids on roses and other plants can be just picked off or sprayed w/ a strong hose; no harm and no foul to anyone!!
The school district where I live posts a pesticide spraying notice at the school’s athletic fields where the children play sports, but NO ONE discontinues using the fields at this time. Complaints to the School Board and local athletic association are met with comments like, “Well, we don’t smell anything (!)…I hear they use a ‘natural poison’ (!)…you can always leave (which we do).” The collective stupidity of my neighbors continues to amaze me.
Green, lush lawns are possible without intensive chemical baths! First, reduce the size! Most of us use only a fraction of the expanse of lawn we have. It will be easier to tend and will save thousands of gallons of water per week! To keep weeds at a minimum, water deeply twice per week and raise the height of your mower. The turf will more effectively shade out the weeds, and the deeper, less frequent waterings will encourage deep roots and drought tolerance. Once a month, remove the grass catcher and allow the clipping mulch to remain. The clippings will settle into the lawn and return nutrients to the soil as they decompose. I have one of the lushest lawns around and I have not fertilized or used herbicides in years. If laying in the grass is your pleasure and you live in an area with lots of bugs and flees, there are many products available now that will control them organically with cedar, or thyme oils. Enjoy!
How about we just enjoy and make good use of what God put in our yard? Like dandelion…great for the liver, kidneys, digestion and full of nutrients. Or plantain…helps with poison ivy and bee stings. Or ground ivy…good for the respiratory tract. Did anyone ever stop to think maybe they’re there for a reason? Planted by God before people wore shoes to go through the body cleaning the blood and keeping us well? Instead we work to replace them with poison because the chemical companies have convinced us it’s the civilized thing we should do! People can be so absurd in their ways.
Wanted to piggy back of the comment about dandelions. If you pick 5 packed quarts of the flowers, steep in water; about 1/3 of the 5 quart pot (which I use to do this in), then strain and use liquid (ugly green color which you will want to use a natural color to change, I use green when making it into a minty taste, red for cinnamon and yellow makes it a nice honey color)as a jelly recipe in your pectin recipe. Depending on the natural pectin in the flower (picking as close to noon and lots of sun as possible raise the level) you will end up with honey, jelly or syrup all of which are wonderful.
Sorry for making the directions so jumbled, hope you can follow them as it is an awesome food and it is all useable.
The flower like I said, the leaves are great in salads the root makes a wonderful addition to a tea mix (if used by themselves can cause looser stools), and the white milk when used 5+ times a day will kill warts (turns black so cover lightly with a covering).
This is a plant not used enough in the American diet. Enjoy, it really is a wonderful food source.