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Expert Indicates EPA Pesticide Exposure Test Too Short and Overlooks Long-Term Effects
According to a study presented in the September, 2009, edition of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh reported that
the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide exposure test could fail
to account for pesticides’ long-term effects. The US EPA routinely uses a four day
testing period to establish safe levels of pesticide exposure for humans and animals.
(http://www.setacjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1897%2F09-033.1&ct=1).
The research group discovered that
endosulfan, a highly neurotoxic pesticide still widely used in US agriculture,
can exhibit a “lag effect” after initial exposure. The adverse effects from exposure
do not appear until after direct contact has ended.
The researchers exposed nine species of toad and frog tadpoles to endosulfan levels
“expected and found in nature” for the EPA’s four day testing period. After four
days, they moved the tadpoles to clean water for an additional four days. Devin
Jones, lead author of the study, indicated that while endosulfan was ultimately
toxic to all nine species, three species of tadpole showed no measured sensitivity
to endosulfan until after they were transferred to fresh water. Within four days
of movement to fresh water, up to 97 percent of leopard frog tadpoles died as well
as up to 50 percent of American toad and spring peeper tadpoles.
Rick Relyea, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences in Pitt’s School of Arts
and Sciences and Jones’ graduate advisor, raised serious concerns for making regulatory
decisions based on the EPA’s standard four day test. Relyea commented that “[f]or
most pesticides, we assume that animals will die during the period of exposure,
but we do not expect substantial death after the exposure has ended. Even if EPA
regulations required testing on amphibians, our research demonstrates that the standard
four-day toxicity test would have dramatically underestimated the lethal impact
of endosulfan on even this notably sensitive species.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090817143610.htm)
The endosulfan study culminates a 10-year effort by Relyea’s group to examine the
potential links between pesticide use and the global decline of amphibians as well
as potential effects to humans in the future.
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