"Poison In The Grass: The Hazards And Consequences Of Lawn Pesticides"

[orleans]

by
Nathan Diegelman
The S.T.A.T.E. Foundation



"As the use of lawn chemicals and pesticides has grown, questions have arisen regarding safety hazards and environmental consequences. This report gives factual findings to help answer many of these concerns. Some of them may seem shocking, since the chemical pesticide industry has made every effort to keep this information from the public. Everything that follows in this report is documented and supported by the U.S. Federal Government, private agencies, and other experts.

"Contrary to what lawn "care" companies would like people to believe, herbicides (weed killers) and other pesticides are not "magic bullets". They are broad spectrum biocides, and by their very nature can harm organisms other than targeted species. This includes homeowners and their families, neighbors, pets, and all other forms of life. The pesticide industry downplays this by claiming their chemicals are heavily diluted, but doesn't mention the toxins are still extremely dangerous in small amounts. They also are unwilling to mention all of what is in their mixtures. Many components are classified as "inert", which allows them to be kept hidden from the public and not listed on product labels. These are more than just fillers or solvents. "Inert" does not mean "inactive" - some, such as benzene and xylene, are more toxic than listed chemicals.(1,2)

"Listed chemicals can be just as dangerous. They include components of war-time defoliants like Agent Orange, nerve-gas type insecticides, and artificial hormones. Some the Federal Government has even prohibited from use on it's own property. Many pesticides are not safe when dry. Water evaporates, but most pesticides remain and continue to release often odorless and invisible toxic vapors. In areas where lawn spraying is common, they accumulate in a toxic smog throughout the entire season. Some pesticides remain active for years after application. DDT is still showing up in higher rates in women's breast milk than the government permits in cow's milk.(4) Fat soluble pesticides accumulate over time in our bodies, then are released at potentially toxic levels when illness or stress results in our fat reserves being metabolised. A large portion of a woman's lifetime exposure to such pesticides is released in the breast milk for her firstborn child.(37)

"It is a violation of U.S. Federal law to claim pesticides are "safe when used as directed" since nothing can assure safety.(2,3,5) (However, Agriculture Canada, the federal agency responsible until recently for licensing pesticides in Canada, routinely used this statement, adding for good measure that "most pesticides are safer than table salt". Fortunately, pesticides in Canada are now licensed by Health Canada.) Some pesticides labeled "bio-degradable" degrade into compounds more dangerous than the original. Examples include Mancozeb, which degrades into a substance that is an EPA-classified probable carcinogen.(6) The pesticide industry also implies that "organic" means safe and natural (for example, "Nature's Lawn"), knowing that the term legally may be applied to any compound containing carbon and hydrogen. ChemLawn and other lawn "care" companies and manufacturers have often been sued for fictitious claims.

more at

http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/02-09-27e.htm

this article was probably written in 1994 (that is the latest reference it lists) but i believe it is still relevant. my dog and i were out in our backyard the other day--and i smelled that "green chlorine" smell of a sprayed neighbor's lawn. my dog is really sick now--i've been googling and ran across this.

[Lorien]

1. I picked up several sick baby raccoons, a sick bird and an adult raccoon

several years ago. I took them to a local wildlife rehab center, which said that they had all been poisoned by lawn fertilizer and/ or weed killers. The bird and one of the raccoons survives, but were brain damaged (the raccoon went to live as a pet with an older gentleman because he was too damaged to be returned to the wild). The rest of the animals were put down or died on their own. I never sprayed my lawn, but my neighbors sure do. I'm not surprised by any of the information in the article.

I hope that your dog recovers soon. I'd take him/ her to the vet as soon as possible-there are treatments that can help avert some of the damage those chemical can cause.

[orleans]

4. thanks. we went today (monday) for a major blood test. we'll find out

more tomorrow.

my neighbors spray their lawns.

i was thinking someone should start a "clean neighborhood" campaign (in our neighborhood) with info on these lawn sprays and chemicals and how they affect pets/children/wildlife.

i'm so sick of this yard spraying shit--i can't even begin to tell you.

[truedelphi]

8. One major tonic for animals affeted by spraying is a tincture

Sold in health food stores.

It is called "devil's claw" and it will help the animal eliminate the toxins.

If you decide to get it, it should be the African tuber, which helps open up all the organs so they can excrete the toxins. (There is another plant called Devil's Claw that is an american plant and it doesn't do very much in the way of helping with toxin removal.)

My son and I saved a small kitten we had just adopted after it strayed into a neighbor's toolshed attic and got sprayed with heavy duty fumigants. After examining the animal, the vet said the kitty would die. But the Devil's Claw saved it.

Took almost the whole bottle, watered down and eye droppered into the kitty over a fifteen hour period.

[Kurovski]

2. Self-delete Dupe.

[Kurovski]

3. K&R. (nt)

[KT2000]

5. Here is a good link

you are so right - these products are poisons. We should always remember that "cide" means kill.
My neighbor uses chemicals constantly, mixing some with the goal of killing pests in my yard too. I happen to go into heart arrhythmia when I breathe that stuff. He had 2 deer die in his yard last year.

labels on these products are not very informative. Find the MSDS for the product and then look up the ingredients at the site below. They have good information about the health effects of these chemicals.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/gateway/

[EFerrari]

6. Anyone who has ever bought a bottle of pesticide at HomeDepot

and then, actually looked at the tiny print on the back label can't help but be appalled.

You read that (if you can see it) and you have to think, what the hell am I doing?

[truedelphi]

7. Monsanto lied through their teeth about the ingredients in RoundUp

To the EPA at the time they initially asked for the licensing so they could sell this crap to the public.

RoundUp supposedly contained glyphosate, water and polyoxyethalineamine (POEA) with POEA being the most dangerous of those, as it readily breaks down into dioxane, a carcinogen. (not to be confused with dioxin, which is also a carcinogen)

But in reality RoundUp also contains formaldehyde. Without it, the glyphosate would remain in a cake like state, not as the liquid you need to allow it to be sprayed.


The reason for omitting the fact about the formaldehyde is that formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, and its inclusion, if admitted to the EPA, would have prevented RoundUp from being sold to the public over the counter.

All this was told to me by a scientist who was a forensic witness for plaintiffs suing Monsanto.
He handled a case in which records were shown to him about the real chemicals used in RoundUp.

[orleans]

10. i wonder how that case that you mentioned turned out

someone suing monsanto?

[truedelphi]

47. The plaintiffs won - which is why this scientist was shown the records

However he was not supposed to ever reveal what he learned from seeing the records.

I haven't talked to him in over four years. Am trying to locate him so that I can use his name when I speak out on this. (He did know that my articles on RoundUp have been published - and he's no dummy. he has a Ph'd in some aspect of chemistry.)

[truedelphi]

69. It takes death or paralysis to get a lawyer interested in a case against Monsanto

And sadly Roundup is posionous enough that it paralyzes a certain number of people a year.

[EFerrari]

13. You BET they did! n/t

[PetraPooh]

9. I totally agree that they can be/are toxic; however

the idea of every yard being left in its natural state would mean fleas, ticks, ants, bilge bugs, and so many other critters that would have their own toxic effects on our environment. AND the "all natural" stuff isn't really any better, particularly now that it is becoming a possibility that the natural pesticides have nicotine in them and may be one of the causes of the bees disappearing.

I don't think there is a great answer currently to the problem, but not spraying I think would be equally disastrous.

Perhaps just returning to the cheaper and safer ones like sevin spray or dust, and the sulphur dust; but I don't know if they are really any safer or if that's just my impression.

[crispini]

11. completely untrue

100% organic yard for 10 years and have had none of those problems you mentioned. A well nourished organic yard has its own natural defenses against pests. Google Howard Garrett if you want to know more. Great resource for organic gardening

[crikkett]

17. the bugs inhabit unhealthy yards

and animals

[LiberalEsto]

26. We never used any of that stuff when I was a kid

back in the 50s-60s, and somehow, the human race survived.

Sevin is nasty stuff too.

Tech Pac, LLC - July 2001

SECTION 3 - HEALTH HAZARD DATA
EMERGENCY OVERVIEW
A creamy, tan, odorless liquid:
* Harmful if swallowed.
* Extremely toxic to aquatic and estuarine invertebrates.
* Highly toxic to bees.
* Causes injury to Boston Ivy, Virginia Creeper and Maidenhair fern. During early season, may injure Virginia and Sand pines.
ROUTE(S) OF ENTRY: Ingestion
EYES: May cause minimal irritation.
SKIN: May cause slight irritation.
INGESTION: Harmful if swallowed.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS: Harmful if ingested. This product causes reversible cholinesterase inhibition. Repeated overexposure may cause more severe cholinesterase inhibition with more pronounced signs and symptoms. May lead to rapid onset of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, involuntary shaking, excess salivation, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision, profuse sweating, temporary paralysis, respiratory depression, and convulsions.

[orleans]

65. this is a link to a pdf file

http://www.refusetousechemlawn.org/uploads/12/Refuse_to_Use_Chemlawn_Be_Truly_Green.pdf

i've been reading through it--it's from 2004 i think. or 2005. it's about 100 pages, all about chemlawn shit. has some details about various chemicals. it's very interesting.

[chelaque liberal]

32. Part of the problem is created by the mono-culture of a lawn.

Nature in balance isn't an acre of Kentucky Blue Grass. Nature is diverse. Certain insects become a problem in an abundance of the particular environment in which they thrive.

Large lawns are bad for the environment on many levels including the water required to maintain them, the gasoline required to mow them.

[chelaque liberal]

33. Opps-I should have read farther down. Sorry.

[yardwork]

35. Nonsense. I've been an organic gardener all my life, and so were my parents.

That's more than a half-century of organic gardening. "Not spraying" allows the earth to establish a healthy balance. Healthy lawns - unpolluted with poisons - do not harbor a lot of insects. On the contrary, it's the lawns and gardens that are starved of organic nutrients and continually poisoned with things that don't belong there that are unhealthy.

My yards and gardens have always been full of birds and bats eating the bugs. I always have fewer mosquitoes and flies than my neighbors. I have butterflies, dragonflies, and tiny wasps that eat aphids. My lawn is greener than my neighbors during droughts and the height of summer - without the need for watering.

European honeybees are not disappearing because of nicotine. They are infected with mites introduced from other parts of the world - just as the honeybees themselves were introduced from Europe, along with the highly-hybridized fruit trees that depend on their pollination. American bumblebees do a fine job of pollinating the plant species that evolved on this continent, and they're not suffering from mites - they are in perfect health.

The world took care of itself for billions of years before Monsanto and DuPont started telling us that we couldn't live without their products.

[DCKit]

54. Yes, mites are suspected....

but there's a new type of pesticide based on a chemically engineered analog of nicotine. I'd almost agree with you about the mites, but this new pesticide is losing market share dramatically, as we speak, because the farmers who used it now realize they won't be in business for long if they continue to do so. It's main effect was meant to cause confusion and disrupt feeding. Unfortunately, it seems to work just as well on the honeybees that pollinate a huge percentage of our food crops.

It may not even be the main cause, but all this shit, together, adds up to dead bees. We can't afford the world-wide chemical experiment we've been running for the past fifty years - well, not if we want to eat.

[OKthatsIT]

62. Bees are disappearing because of the Government's...

weather modification aerosol spraying program. The spray is full of aluminum oxide, barium oxide, cadmium, throium, potassium, magnesium and polymers(capable of transporting biologicals such as viruses, bacterias and mycoplasmas).

LOOK UP.

I think lawns should be outlawed. Off to the park wit ya, if you want grass.

[PetraPooh]

63. I have only a small patch of grass, I have chickens (hens) for fertilizer

and bug control, and use only irrigation water to water when needed. So I'm with all of you on trying to make a difference. However, the idea that "natural" products are somehow better or safer is complete poppycock, they are still very concentrated and directed at killing bugs, molds/mildews, and weeds; and therefore are likely to be nearly as bad as, or worse than some of the milder insecticides like sevin. The grass I have is for the hens more than anything, well that and there is a covenant requirement to have some grass both front and back.

[El Pinko]

12. Unbelieveable that people put chemicals on LAWNS.

My little backyard looks great and we don't put anything on it. No bug sprays, and we pull weeds by hand.

Unbelievable people would want that toxic shit where their KIDS PLAY.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Malathion is a very dangerous insecticide, commonly used in yards.

http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/

[DemReadingDU]

15. the grubs ate most of my lawn last year

I try not to use too many chemicals on the lawn because of my dog, but I really have no lawn this year because the grubs ate it all last year. I am trying to grow back grass seed, but what to do about the grub problem? Does anyone know how to get rid of the grubs so they don't attack my lawn this year?

[JCMach1]

16. You need a diverse lawn... Monoculture only feeds such infestations

Try several different varieties of grass. I did this in my lawn in Florida. I mixed centipede (very old variety) and 4 different species of St. Augustine. Some were good for shade... others good for other things. In short, it worked very well.

Even if I got an infestation, it would generally only go so far as typically the bugs would just target the one species.

Nature tends to do the job best. Got mole crickets? Let the moles flourish. Go bugs? Start attracting birds to your lawn with seed. Soon, they will also want a little protein with that seed.

Seriously, if a grass is eaten up you have the wrong grass for your area (try something new). Or, better yet, try several new things.

And remember, grass was never meant to be a carpet.

[leftchick]

21. grass was never meant to be grown as lawns here in America

especially in the South. I believe the British brought that great idea here. :eyes:

[DemReadingDU]

23. Interesting. We live in SW Ohio

I usually have Kentucky blue grass. It's a pretty grass, but maybe it is not for Ohio. I will research grass for this area that grubs don't eat.

Every few years we get moles in our lawn, but my beagle likes to catch them.

Edit: I do feed the birds. Which birds love to eat grubs?

[JCMach1]

42. Moles also aerate your turf with their little tunnels

[JCMach1]

43. Probably in a transition zone then... Also, there may be soil

peculiarities and micro-climate issues. You might try one or several of these:

Bluegrass(KY)

Fescue (tall)

Ryegrass(per)

Thermal Blue

Zoysia


Also, I hate to say it, but dogs are murder on grass... especially in fenced areas :(

[csziggy]

61. Bluebirds eat grubs

So maybe if you put in a bluebird house they will move in and eat your grubs.

Problem is if you and your neighbors have poisoned the lawns in the past, you may just invite bluebirds in for a toxic feast.

Contact your local County Agricultural Extension Office to ask about appropriate lawns for your area. Keep in mind though, they usually recommend lots of chemicals - fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

[bullwinkle428]

75. Check out this site - it offers custom blends of seeds

depending on the part of the country in which you live. You just need to enter a zip code to determine the optimum blend for your region!

http://www.seedsuperstore.com/

[DemReadingDU]

76. well that was interesting

I should be growing fescue, not Kentucky blue grass. I will need to research more. Thanks for the website!

[crikkett]

18. I would ask how you feel about chickens...

but I don't know where you live.

The idea is to think about what would eat the grubs. Maybe a couple of the right style of bird houses will attract wildlife to the food.

[vssmith]

19. Moles love grubs

[crikkett]

20. well you can't re-grow a lawn with chickens either.

...what damage do moles leave to yards? Holes in the ground waiting for ankles? Can dogs chase them off?

thanks

[DemReadingDU]

24. my beagle catches them

A few years ago, the moles invaded our yard. My dog caught 4!

[DemReadingDU]

22. Chickens aren't allowed in my suburban neighborhood

I have seen roaming skunks and places that look like perhaps the skunks have been digging up the grubs. I prefer not to have wild skunks for pets though.

[LiberalEsto]

27. Milky spore disease works

I bought a can and applied it myself. The bare patches on the lawn have cleared up quite a bit and grass can grow on them. Fewer Japanese beetles, too.

[DemReadingDU]

30. I have not heard of this. I will check it out.

Thanks!

[knitter4democracy]

49. That's what we did, and we haven't had a problem since.

We applied it to the front yard (the worst one) and part of the side yard, and last year, we saw only a few Japanese beetles (what the grubs grow up into) and fewer grubs. They said that it's good for five years, but we'll probably put it on again in another year or so.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

52. A japanese beetle trap will catch them

[knitter4democracy]

58. I read that it actually brings over beetles from other yards.

That it makes it worse in the long run.

[orleans]

41. check out this website, maybe you could find something here

he does a radio show
on organic gardening
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/

[DemReadingDU]

44. Thanks, I have bookmarked this site to refer back to

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

51. Try Milky Spore

Its a powder that you spread on the lawn. Nematodes, tiny organisms that kill the grubs, are another option. Visit the Gardens Alive website for info.

I still chuckle when I think about the nematodes. I ordered several bazillion of them and when they arrived I had an Emperor has No Clothes feeling because they are so small that they are invisible. They're embedded on a paperlike substance that you put into water. You don't see a change in the water either, so I felt like I was spraying plain water on the lawn :)

[DemReadingDU]

55. Thanks, I'll remember that

it's worth a try

[truedelphi]

70. Heh! Heh!

And I have this really really cheap bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya, only it too can only be seen by the invisible fairies who will put up the invisible structure.

But i'm betting your yard looked better in the end??

I ordered lady bugs - and though they were very visible, they all took off immediately for other parts of the world. Didn't find out things I could have done to keep them around until after most of them were gone.

[LiberalEsto]

25. Check out WOW

WOW is a pre-emergent crabgrass/weed preventer made of corn gluten. It's the only thing I use on our lawn, and it also provides a little natural fertilizing. http://www.gardensalive.com/default.asp?sid=140268&eid=&bhcd2=1208867276

People who use chemical lawn products don't realize that they track the stuff into their houses on their shoes, or that their kids and pets play on the grass. Or that the poisons run off into streams, ponds and rivers to damage our environment.

About 15 years ago I drove past my kids' school bus stop and saw a lawn company employee spraying some sort of crap less than 10 feet from the children. The kids couldn't move away, because they were supposed to stay at the stop until their bus came. I got out and asked the guy to stop until the kids left. I also asked what he was spraying. He reluctantly showed me the ingredient list, and the only one I recognized was 2,4D. This is a carcinogen, despite the agri-industry's having poured millions of dollars into concealing this. http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=163

I raised hell with the principal and the superintendent of schools in our county. They contacted every lawn company that works in this county and told them they cannot spray near kids waiting for school buses.

But more needs to be done, and I'm sure there are plenty of lawn companies around the US that continue to spray poison near innocent kids while contaminating our whole planet.

[elizfeelinggreat]

31. yikes

That was great of you to take the time to do that.

[Fireweed247]

50. I was going to suggest this

The OP should give a Garden's Alive catalog to their neighbor.

People are so unconscious of their actions, they use methyl bromide right next to schools in California, totally oblivious and the kids have nowhere to go. Good job fighting back :applause:

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

53. I'm so happy to see this testimonial about WOW

I had been thinking about ordering it for a long time. I wound up buying locally a similar product made with Corn Gluten and applied it 2 weeks ago - probably a tad late for my area.

The only downside is that it smells like cornflakes and my chowhound dog tried to eat the granules.

[LiberalEsto]

56. At least your dog will be

crabgrass-free!

I have used WOW for about 5 years and found it very effective against crabgrass and somewhat effective for dandelions. It does not get rid of violets, unfortunately.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

74. Good because I love the violets in my lawn

I am having a huge dandelion problem, though. I picked up a book on organic lawn care at the library last night.

[truedelphi]

71. Thank you for working hard on the issue. The thing of it is

So much gets sprayed in the early hours - say 6Am to 9Am.

You sit on a park bench at 9:15 and eat your apple and have yr coffee without knowing that there was malathion sprayed an hour before you arrived.

And the kids could have just as easily assembled at the bus stop an hour after the guy was done - you and they would have never known that it happened.

[notadmblnd]

28. Lawn companies stop by frequently soliciting by business

I guess they see my "pathetic" yard and feel I need help. When I tell them I like the overgrown and wild appearance of my yard, they look at me like I'm insane.

[blindpig]

29. Lawns are an abomination, double for goof courses. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

67. "Goof courses" -- truth in error?

:rofl:

[blindpig]

73. No error

Truth, certainly.}(

[NNN0LHI]

34. I paid a lot of money to have this lawn put in and I'll be damned if I will let the weeds take over

Any suggestions on how to keep the dandelions from taking over without using chemicals besides picking them out one at a time?

Don

[yardwork]

36. Dandelions are a delicious spring tonic. Pick the leaves now, before they flower.

Rinse the leaves in water and then boil lightly. Serve as spinach or chard.

Dandelions have long taproots, so you really have to dig them out. You can poison them, of course, but if you do, you leave poison in the ground. Eventually that poison makes it into your drinking water. Is it really worth it?

[NNN0LHI]

40. I take care of about half an acre here

Neighbors see me outside trying to harvest a half an acre of dandelions all year long by hand and they will call the men wearing the white coats and they will put a straitjacket on me.

And I kind of wouldn't blame them.

Don

[pitohui]

60. my dandelions are gone forever

i have to tell this story on myself, about 15 years ago i got on some stupid herbal kick and decided to drink dandelion tea (made from the root) instead of coffee with that nasty caffeine

i dug up every dandelion i could find because i was using the root, i also dug up the wild chicory and used that root

i have not again ever had a dandelion or chicory plant in my yard, and i even tried re-seed the dandelion in my wildflower area some years back...to no avail...karma got me on that one!

if you are a MOTIVATED digger up of the dandelion root pretty soon you won't have any dandelions is the moral of my story

[Dora]

46. (Organic) corn gluten meal.

Corn gluten meal prevents seeds from germinating. It won't do anything about the weeds already living in your lawn, but it will prevent seeds from current blooms (or from your neighbor's blowovers) from germinating and taking root.

The stuff works, and it works as a gentle fertilizer for your grass - and thick turf discourages weed seeds from settling in.

http://www.hort.iastate.edu/gluten/

http://wihort.uwex.edu/turf/corngluten.htm

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h531cornglutenmeal.html

Apply corn gluten meal first in late April/early May, then a second time around mid-August. Spread the product evenly, at a rate of twenty pounds per 1,000 square feet of lawn. Water it lightly into the soil in order to activate it. The CGM should remain effective for five to six weeks each time you apply it.

Most annual and perennial weed seeds sprout in spring or early summer, but there are a number of "winter annuals" that may sprout either in spring or fall. Chickweed, shepherd's purse, and speedwell (Veronica) are examples of winter annuals that may be found growing in lawns. When these seeds sprout in fall, their roots live over winter, giving them a head start the following spring. By the end of that growing season, they die, just like other annuals. Because of these winter annuals, you should apply corn gluten meal to the lawn in late summer as well as spring.

Results of using CGM on lawns

Don't expect to see instant results from using corn gluten meal. Every consecutive year you apply CGM - assuming proper timing and rate - should give you better results than the year before. By the fourth year, weed control should be very good.

When you use corn gluten meal you are also fertilizing the lawn, which encourages it to grow thicker and help exclude weeds. Applying CGM at the recommended rate of twenty pounds per 1,000 square feet, twice a year, gives your lawn a total of four pounds of nitrogen annually - more than enough to meet its needs. Corn gluten meal does not supply phosphorus or potassium, however. You should have your soil tested periodically to see if either nutrient should be added, and in what amount.

[LiberalEsto]

72. WOW is corn gluten

I've used it for 5 years and found it works quite well for crabgrass and dandelions.

[Javaman]

37. I'm starting the process of converting my front lawn to a garden.

I have always hated lawns. a total waste of resources.

[Indenturedebtor]

45. Yes lawns are a great example of what's wrong with the US

Superficial environment destruction. People spend so much time working on their stupid lawns so that their house looks nice, instead of spending time learning or with their familes. Poor all this water and chemicals and gasoline into a superficial blight on the planet. Lawns soak up almost no CO2 and have no benefit but they take SO much time and cause SO much harm.

I hate them. I especally hate them here in Arizona. Disgusting.

We bought a run down house and are currently in teh process of getting rid of all temperate climate plants. If it needs to be watered it needs to die and then get chopped up. My neighbors don't understand it but they're fundies :shrug: "What you need to do is water that twice a day..." Yeah, what you need to do is quit pouring our most precious resource on your stupid plants.

[Javaman]

48. Here here!! Cheers! :) nt

[cynatnite]

57. Hmm...we just mow and weed eat our lawn...

have never used pesticides or anything like that. Looks nice, I think.

I do water my stupid plants, though. Don't care much for dying plants at all.

[LibertyLover]

38. I am really sorry to hear about your dog

Because we have dogs and a small child, my husband and I have never used a lawn service or done much more than put some lime down on our grass. We are one of a growing number in our community who don't use a lawn service. A few years ago a neighbor, who has since moved away, got a lovely standard poodle pup. Their kids adored that dog and Jimbo was a friendly, well-trained dog who never left his yard. From what I learned later, the father was not thrilled about having a dog because dogs messed up his lawn and he couldn't keep it looking green. So he started using ChemLawn to make sure the grass in the front yard was nice and green. Several months after that, Jimbo died from exposure to the lawn chemicals. The father admitted that was their vet's conclusion. He was also heard complaining about how much the kids missed the dog, but he wasn't going to get them a new one because he liked how the grass looked too much. Every time the lawn chemical truck was at their place, the street recked of chemicals for several hours. Shortly after Jimbo's death, the lawn guy came around to several neighboring houses, ours included, to tout their service. My mom told him that we were not interested because we had a dog and were not looking to have him die due to their chemicals. The rep got really condescending with her, asking if she understood about lawn chemicals. Mom, who was a retired librarian with a master's degree, looked him in the eye, told him yes she did and we didn't want any on her lawn, on herr dog or in her home. The rest of the houses he went to told him the same thing. The family who lost their dog stopped using the service eventually, to everyone's relief.

[The Stranger]

39. Why would any fucking idiot would put that shit in the grass? To make it greener?

Man, we are so fucked. I can't take it any more.

[pitohui]

59. it angers me that people are allowed to spray their lawns

in my area houses are simply too close together, this should never be allowed, thank god i have been lucky and my pets have never been made ill...but there but for the grace of god, go me and my pets

i hope your dog is helped and that you are compensated

i'm also strongly opposed to golf courses but, alas, it is a lost cause, as i had no idea what a role they play in tourism, people actually travel to new orleans/gulf coast area to play certain golf course, i'm like WTF? we are a key migration area, we should not be converting valuable bird habitat to poison -- but for financial reasons, we have to -- more of city park is going to be changed to golf green in the "new" plan for raising funds

sometimes i just want to give up and weep

i am proud of my dollar grass in my lawn, it is proof that i care, and i notice that my lawn is heavily used by migratory birds

[Kat45]

64. If I see one of those little signs on a lawn that pesticides have been used,

I go out of my way to avoid setting foot on that lawn. (A few years ago I accidentally set my foot down on such a lawn, and I haven't worn the shoes since.) ANd those are only the lawns professionally done; have no way of knowing about lawns a homeowner does himself.

Before I realized what a corporatocracy we have, I was amazed that these drugs are still around: I learned about the toxicity of Roundup, Malathion and others in my Environmental Biology class in the seventies.

[unapatriciated]

66. Here is another that is very toxic

It was used quit a bit in Southern California in the early 90's to control med-fly. Shortly after spraying in our area both of my son's became ill. My older son suffered acute asthma attacks right after the first spraying (he was fifteen and had never had asthma) his attacks quit about two months after the last spraying. My younger son became ill with an autoimmune disorder (Dermatomyositis) and was very ill for about ten years, he still suffers the disabling effects of the disease. I believe the spraying triggered his disease but it is very difficult to prove.

They told us that it was safe for pets and children, but warned you to cover your cars to protect against paint peeling.

http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/

[orleans]

68. my god. safe for children & pets but COVER YOUR CARS!

it's just unbelievable how fucked up we are

and amazing what some people value.

i've been thinking: wouldn't it be great if someone in my neighborhood would start some sort of deal (like that "neighborhood watch" thing) to "keep the neighborhood clean" campaign.

maybe have flyers that inform people of how bad this shit is.

how it fucks up kids and pets and wildlife.

and put a little peer pressure on people (keeping up with the Joneses means not polluting the neighborhood) type of thing.

if i had more time/mental energy i'd do it myself.

[Blue_In_AK]

77. No chemicals in my lawn...

I LIKE the dandelions...they're the first flowers of spring here. We'll probably be eating some this year, with food prices like they are.

[kestrel91316]

78. IIRC, soome lawn chemical or another has been conclusively linked

to bladder cancer in Scottish Terriers. FWIW.

In 8 years in the house I rented, I used Weed 'n'Feed twice (in the first year). Hated the smell. Then I just started spreading composted steer manure on it and reseeding patches as needed. Weeds can't compete with a healthy well-fed lawn. Individual large weeds like dandelions and crabgrass and such, I just pulled.

Sadly, I had to use Roundup to control the Bermuda grass (large component of my lawn) when it would try to take over my raised beds in the vegetable garden.

But the next place I have room for a garden or lawn, there will be NO chemicals. NONE.