FACT
SHEET ON THE COMMON HERBICIDE 2,4-D
HOW ARE HERBICIDES MANUFACTURED: BASIC
INFORMATION
Herbicides are synthetic chemicals. A number
of chemicals are put into a special furnace, called reactor, and are
synthesized at high temperatures. The results are not always exactly
the same, as the final product may be more or less contaminated by
toxic substances called dioxin.
DIOXIN
Unwanted by products of incineration and
manufacturing,
dioxins are passed to the next generation and are associated
with cancer, neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, and immune
disfunction that can lead to arthritis and diabetes. Children are
especially vulnerable– to birth defects, impaired development,
asthma and cancer.
HERBICIDE 2,4-D
2,4-D is
the most commonly used lawn herbicide in North America. Agent Orange
of Vietnam and Gagetown fame consisted of herbicides 2,4-D and
2,4,5-T, both belonging to the the group of phenoxy herbicides. Due
to the horrendous results of a human U.S. government study,
conducted in the seventies, the herbicide 2,4,5 T, contaminated
during manufacturing with powerful dioxin 2,3,7,8 TCDD, was banned
in mid eighties.
However, another form of dioxin, 2,7 DCDD, an
inevitable by product of 2,4-D manufacturing, was found to be
"equipotent" to dioxin TCDD in its toxic effect on the immunity of
mice. TCDD got all the publicity and DCDD was forgotten. To this day
DCDD is not regulated or monitored by Government, but could be at
much higher levels than TCDD. The chemical industry indeed
sacrificed 2,4,5-T to keep producing other phenoxy herbicides as
cheaply as possible.
CANADA's PEST MANAGEMENT REGULATORY AGENCY
(PMRA)
Examines secret rat data selected by the
industry, obtained from toxicological tests in special labs financed
by the industry. Epidemiology (human studies) are not taken into
account. The
PMRA
does not employ medical doctors. This Agency’s spokesperson
confirmed that no data are collected on 2,4-D dioxin, except for
some measurements made for dioxin 2,3,7,8 TCDD, because "there are
too many dioxins!"
Thus the 2,4 D manufacturing process is not
monitored for the concentrations of dioxin DCDD, in some ways as
powerful as dioxin TCDD, as there are no monitoring or regulatory
requirements to limit the concentrations of this toxic product.
Herbicide 2,4 D is applied in the controversial
Weed
& Feed products and
PAR III
mixtures.
PAR III
PAR III
consists of 2,4-D, mecoprop and dicamba. Only so called “active”
elements of these chemicals are individually tested. Secret untested
“formulants” may amount to 50% or more of each product. Some
formulants are linked to cancer according to the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Combined and cumulative
effects of human exposures to these chemicals are not measured, yet
chemicals do behave synergistically; they reinforce each other. PMRA
spokesmen have admitted that 2,4-D, the main PAR III component, was
re registered by this Agency without taking into account the special
vulnerability of children. (No developmental neurological data were
received by the PMRA, yet in this connection children may be as much
as one hundred times as vulnerable as adults are to pesticide
exposures.) Significantly, 2,4-D lawn use is banned in Quebec,
Sweden, Denmark and Norway. (In Canada, the racemic mecoprop can be
used up until the end of 2009, even though industry supplied no data
on this product, to be replaced by the improved mecoprop p.)
When applied, PAR III breaks down gradually
until it becomes water and carbon dioxide. The first 2,4-D breakdown
product is the highly toxic 2,4 dichlorophenol (2,4 DCP), to which
rats are only minimally exposed, because their cages are cleaned
regularly. However, 2,4 DCP is involuntarily tested on our children
and pets, even when they happen to be at a distance from a recently
sprayed lawn. Inhalation exposures are especially undesirable, as
residues go directly to the brain, by passing the liver, the
cleansing organ.
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