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rachel's HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #250 Providing news and resources to the Movement for Environmental Justice - September 11, 1991 PET DOGS GET CANCER FROM WEED KILLERS Pet dogs exposed to the weed killer 2,4-D are dying of cancer at twice normal rates, according to a study just published in the Journal o f the National Cancer Institute} Dog owners who spray or dust their lawns with weed killers containing 2,4-D are doubling Fido's chances of getting can cer, the study shows. Dogs walk across, or roll in, herbicide-treated lawns and then ingest toxic chemicals when they lick their coats or paws. Popular lawn-care products containing 2,4-D in clude Weedone, Weed-B-Gone, and many others (see below).2 Naturally, children who play on treated lawns will also come in contact with the chemical; dogs and children can also track the chemical indoors where prolonged exposure to humans may occur, but, so far as we know, no one has yet studied effects of weed killers on children or other family members inhabiting treated home sites. In the past decade, several studies of farmers, and a few of railroad workers, have shown a con nection between exposure to 2,4-D and an in creased- risk of human cancers. This latest study shows that dogs get some of the same kinds of cancers from weed killers that farmers in Nebras ka,3 Kansas,4 and Saskatchewan,5 and workers in Sweden6,7-* are reported to get from using 2,4-D on crops and to clear weeds along railroad tracks. In humans, the cancers are known as soft tissue sar comas (STS), malignant lymphomas, and nonHodgkin's lymphomas. In dogs, malignant lym phomas and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas predomi nate. The occurrence of such cancers in the Am erican people has been rising slowly but steadily for several decades, tracking the emergence of the modem life style in which the dandelion-free lawn has come to symbolize the good life.9 Non-Hodg kin's lymphomas--the kind dogs are reported to get most often from exposure to 2,4-D-have been the second fastest-growing cancer in humans in the U.S. during the past 15 years. It is not clear exactly which components of weed killers are responsible for the cancers. There are three possible sources of the problem: (a) the active ingredient in the weed killer, (b) the socalled "inert" ingredients that are used as carriers for the chemicals that actually kill weeds, and (c) the dioxins that contaminate the active ingredients during manufacture. About 600 million pounds of 2,4-D are spread on American soil each year by homeowners and farmers--about 60 million pounds of "active in gredients" and about 540 million pounds of "inert" ingredients that can include carbon tetrachloride (a carcinogen), chloroform (a carcinogen), chloroethane (a carcinogen) and 20 or more other ingredi ents that are labeled "inert" but which have wellknown toxic properties.10 Federal pesticide law does not require chemical companies to disclose what is in the "inert" ingredients in their products. Furthermore, federal law provides a $10,000 penal ty for any government employee who reveals the make-up of "inert" ingredients in pesticides. 2,4-D and its closely-related chemical cousin, 2,4,5-T (which is now banned in the U.S.), are contaminated with dioxins during manufacture. Dioxins are extremely potent toxins that have a wide spectrum of effects in humans, wildlife, and laboratory animals (ses RHWN #249). A recent study by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) revealed a 46% cancer increase among workers in factories manufacturing these weed killers. (See RHWN #219.) Previous studies by scientists employed by herbicide manu facturing companies (BASF and Monsanto) had purported to show no effects in workers but there is now a growing concern among government officials that some of these studies were falsified.11 People spread 2,4-D around their homes and gardens to kill broad-leaf weeds, crab grass and dandelions. Farmers use it on tomatoes to cause all fruits to ripen at the same time for machine harvesting, and to increase the red color in pota toes. Utility companies, highway departments, and railroads use it to clear brush beneath power trans mission lines and along highways and tracks. It is used heavily on com, sorghum, rice and other crops to keep weeds down. From 1962 to 1971 during the Vietnam War, 2,4-D and its chemical cousin 2,4,5-T mixed together formed Agent Or ange; it was sprayed by soldiers and airmen to defoliate the jungle where the Vietcong were liv ing. Thousands of GIs have filed lawsuits against the U.S. government and against individual com panies that supplied components of Agent Orange, such as Monsanto, Dow, Uniroyal, Hercules, Dia mond Shamrock and others. A recent study in the American Journal o f Public Health reveals that Vietnam veterans are 70% more likely to father children with one or more major birth defects, compared to men with no military service; it is unclear whether herbicide exposure is the most im portant cause.12 C 001Q 0 Common names for weed killers containing 2,4-D include Weedone, W eed-B-Gon, Green Cross Weed No More 80, Lawn-Keep, Salvo, Red Devil Dry Weed Killer, De-Pester Ded-Weed, Plantgard, Dorman, Dormone, Brush Killer 64, Weed-Rhap, Bladex-B, Butoxy-D, Dicofur, Ipaner, Moxon, Netagrone, Pielik, U 46 DP, Verton 38, B-Selektonon, Silvaprop, Agricom D, Acme LV 4, Acme LV 6, Coprider, D50, DMA 4, Emulsamine, Fem esta, Fezxone, Macondray, Pennamine, Tributon, Weedatul, Agroxone, Spritz-Hormin, Desonnone, Decamine, Weedar, R-H W eed Rhap 20, and Scott's 4-XD Weed Control.*1*34 1 Howard M. Hayes and others, "Case-Control Study of Ca nine M alignant Lymphoma: Positive Association W ith Dog O w ner's Use o f 2,4-Dichicrophenoxyacetic A dd Herbicides," Journal o f the National Cancer Institute V ol. 83 (S ep t 4, 1991), p p . 1226-1231. 3 Product names were gathered from a search on "2,4-D" in the National Library o f M edicine's online Hazardous Substan ces Data Bank; to learn details of this online, system, w rite National Library o f M edicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894. 1 Shelia Hoar Zahm and others, "A Case-Control Study of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and die H erbidde 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic A dd (2,4-D) in Eastern Nebraska," Epidemi ology Vol. 1 (September, 1990), pjp. 349-256. 4 Shelia K. Hoar and others, "Agricultural H erbidde Use and Risk o f Lymphoma and Soft-Tissue Sarcoma," Journal o f the American M edical Association Vol. 256 (Sept. 5, 1986), pgs. 1141-1147; seeR H W N #3. 3 A. Blair, "Herbicides and non-Hodgldn's lymphoma: New evidence from a study o f Saskatchewan fanners," Journal o f the National Cancer Institute Vol. 82 (1990), pgs. 544-545. 4 Olav Axelson and others, "H erbidde Exposure and Tumor M ortality," Scandinavian Journal o f Work, Environment, and H ealth Vol. 6 (M atch, 1980), pgs. 73-79. ; ; 1 Mikael Eriksson and others, "Exposure to Dioxins as a Risk Factor for Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Population-Based CaseControl Study," Journal o f the National Cancer Institute Vol. 82 (March 21, 199), pgs. 486-490. 4 Lennart Haidell and Mikael Eriksson, "The Association Between Soft Tissue Sarcomas aod Exposure to Phenoxyacetic A dds," Cancer Vol. 62 (Aug. 1, 1988), pgs. 652-656. * Kenneth P. Cantor and Others, "Distribution o f Non-HodgIdn's Lymphomas in the United States Between 1950 and 1975," Cancer Research Vol. 40 (August, 1980), p is. 26452652. 14 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stuff members est imate that use of 2,4-D "active ingredient" is between 57 and 62 million pounds per year. Federal law does not allow EPA offidals to gather exact data. See Pesticide Industry Sal** and Usage; 2987 M arket Estim ates (W ashington, D C Econ omic Analysis Branch, Biological and Economic Analysis Division, Office o f Pestiade Programs, [U.S.] Environmental Protection Agency, September 1988), Table 9. However "active ingredients" account for only about 10% o f an her bidde like 2,4-D; see Susan JafFe, Michael Surgan, and Tim othy P. Urban, The Secret Hazards o f Pesticides: Inert In gredients (Albany, NY: Office o f the Attorney General, June, 1991), Table 1. Free copies o f this Attorney General's report are available through the 'mail by contacting O ffice o f Public Information, NY State Department o f Law, 120 Broadway, NY, NY 10271. You can try to place a phone onier by calling (212) 341-2000. u See, for example, Leslie Roberts, "Monsanto Studies Under Fire," Science Vol. 251 (February 8, 1991), pg. 626. A Monsanto public relations spokesperson says the company's studies o f worker health were sound; nevertheless, Roberts reports, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently opened a criminal investigation to determine w hether Monsan to "falsified" three epidemiological studies of its workers. m i.For further evidence of concern expressed by government offidals, see RHWN 13 Ann Ascbengrau and Richard R. Monson, "Paternal M ilitary Service in Vietnam and the Risk o f Late Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes," American Journal o f Public H ealth Vol. 80 (O c tober, 1990), pgs. 1218-1224. 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