Testimony Presented to the City of Los Angeles RE: Pesticides (Revision)

Dear Mr. Chairman and Other Honorable Members:

Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. The subject is one which has been of great interest to me over a period of many years and is, in my opinion, of vital importance to the present and future health of all citizens. I will be as brief as possible in attempting to hit the high spots of this vast subject.

My name is Granville F. Knight. I am a physician in private practice in the City of Santa Monica, specializing in allergy and nutrition. I am a member of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and a Fellow of the American College of Allergists. I am also a member, or Fellow, of ten or twelve other medical societies. I am serving my third term as a member of the Los Angeles County Milk Commission. I have been interested in the subject of pesticide toxicity for more than 25 years and have clinically investigated many cases of pesticide poisoning over that period of time. In 1952, I testified before the DeLaney Committee to Investigate the Use of Chemicals in Foods and Cosmetics, on the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. I have presented testimony on the subject of pesticides before the Los Angeles County committee appointed to look into the subject; the Los Angeles City Council and the California State Committee on Environmental Quality.

Environmental Quality

Chemical contamination of our environment has become obvious. DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides have been spread by wind currents throughout the world: They have penetrated our food chains and are now found in high concentrations in some fish and seals, both in the Arctic and Antarctic. Many of our rivers are sewers and some of our lakes are dying as a result of changes caused by chemical effluents. Our coastal waters are so badly contaminated that near sewer outfalls, many fish have been found with cancerous growths. Human beings carry in their fatty tissue about eight parts per million of DDT or its degradation products. Many individuals have measurable residues of other hydrocarbons, including the phenoxy herbicides, polychlorinated bi-phenyls, polybrominated biphenyls, mirex, etc. Degenerative diseases are on the increase as are strange varieties of so-called virus diseases.

Bionetics Studies

Studies by the Bionetics Laboratories in 1966 showed that the phenoxy herbicides, 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, 2,4-DP and Silvex, are not only embryotoxic but teratogenic and carcinogenic for mice. So are DDT and many related chlorinated hydrocarbons. DDT and 2,4-D have been used on food crops since about 1945 (Although 2,4-D does not contain TCDD, it may be contaminated by other chemical compounds, including dioxins.). While these are less toxic than TCDD, little research has been done on their harmful potential. Moreover, 2,4-D has estrogenic as well as growth stimulating properties. Therefore, the present widespread use of 2,4-D should be seriously questioned: So should the indiscriminate use of other herbicides and fungicides, many of which have demonstrated cancer inducing properties in animal experiments. (Bionetics Studies) Moreover, 2,4,5-T and Silvex contain the tetrachlorinated dibenzodioxins which, in animal experiments, have proven to be up to one million times more toxic than thalidomide in producing deformed young. The toxic effects of the tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (TCDD) have been extensively documented by M. Jacqueline Verrett, Ph. D., Division of Toxicology, F.D.A. Some specimens of beef contain not only residues of the synthetic estrogen, diethylstilbestrol, which has cancer-inducing properties, but residues of the phenoxy herbicides and other chlorinated pesticides used on the animals or contaminating their feed. Unless raised with extreme care, chickens and their eggs may contain toxic residues.

I will briefly list a few of the tragic episodes which have occurred in various parts of the world as a result of poisoning by various chemicals. (Documentation is available to substantiate these catastrophes.)

1. A study of the Cracow region of Poland between 1961 and 1968 indicated a marked increase in the incidence of leukemia, particularly in areas where insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, seed dressings and other plant protective agents had been widely used.
2. Bauer, Schulz and Spiegelberg of Hamburg, Germany reported in 1961 the occurrence of several outbreaks of chloracne and severe poisoning in workers engaged in the production of pentachlorophenol in several different factories. This was found to be due primarily to contact with the tetrachlorodibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans. Many of the workers were incapacitated over a period of years and some had not recovered after eight years. An increased incidence of cancer is to be expected in these individuals.
3. In 1969, almost 250 reindeer disappeared in a pine forest of northern Sweden. The next year 100 corpses were reportedly found. Forty females had aborted while others were dead with retained fetuses. The forest had been sprayed with a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T (“Agent Orange”) and after one year, leaves from the sprayed area still contained up to 25 ppm of 2,4-D and 10 ppm of 2,4,5-T.
4. A few years ago, because of mislabeling, a shipment of polybrominated biphenyls (fire retardant plastics) was mixed with grain fodder used for cattle and pigs in Michigan. This feed was widely distributed and consumed before it was suspected as the cause of illness and death in about 30,000 head of cattle and pigs throughout the state. By that time, many thousands of animals had to be slaughtered. It is probable that several million human beings in that area still have PBB’s in their blood. Many complain of excessive fatigue, aching bones and muscles and other symptoms suggesting chronic poisoning.
5. The kepone disaster at Hopewell, Virginia, which caused severe neurological damage to workers in the plant and contamination of rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay, has destroyed the fishing industry in these rivers and also parts of the Bay. Since this chemical is almost indestructible, it will be many years–if ever–before the contamination disappears.
6. The widespread and repeated use of DDT and other chemicals by aerial spraying in American and Canadian forests in a vain attempt to control the gypsy moth has been a complete failure. This chemical onslaught has killed natural predators of the moth, and done untold damage to forest wildlife as well as upsetting the ecological balance of the forest floor. The phenoxy herbicides compound the effect. In addition to damage to wildlife, the destruction of alder and other plants and trees providing nitrogen for the soil could have a far-reaching effect in encouraging the survival of conifers that contribute little to enrichment of the forest soil.
7. The use of “Agent Orange”, namely 2,4-D, plus 2,4,5-T (or SiIvex), by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to destroy brush in our national forests has been reported many times to cause severe illness, as well as birth deformities in both animals and man in a number of different areas. This was true in Globe, Arizona, in Minnesota, Virginia, Texas, several areas in Canada, in Los Angeles and San Diego, and, most recently, in Oregon and Washington. The use of these herbicides along roadsides, etc., has compounded the problem. The deadly tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, (TCDD) has now been recovered from the tissues of small animals in sprayed areas and most recently from the milk of human mothers. It has also been found in the tissue of steers grazed on acreage sprayed with 2,4,5-T. Since TCDD is one of the most toxic chemicals known and is exceedingly stable, the outlook is grim. After a suit in Eugene, Oregon, a restraining order has been issued which prevents any more spraying of this type in the Siuslaw National Forest, at least for this year. It was found that the Environmental Impact Statement, prepared by the U. S. Forest Service, was not only incomplete but misleading. 

Since the use of “Agent Orange” was banned in Vietnam in 1970, why is our government permitting its use in the United States?

1. In 1970, herds of cattle belonging to Lewis Trotter and John Mayo of San Acacia, sixty miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, were drift-sprayed without warning from helicopters hired by the Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau of Reclamation was attempting to kill salt cedar trees along the riverbanks. The chemical used was Silvex, which is similar to 2,4,5-T, and contains the deadly TCDD. The cattle became sick and many died: Forty per cent of the cows aborted. The remainder were finally removed from the sprayed areas, but, in spite of adequate food and care, continued to lose weight and finally had to be sold at a tremendous loss. The Trotter children and those of John Mayo became ill, but, hopefully, have finally recovered.
2. A salvage oil company sprayed a horse arena on a horse breeding farm in eastern Missouri. Over the next several weeks hundreds of birds, several cats and dogs, and numerous rodents died after being exposed to the arena. Sixty-two out of eighty-five horses exercised in the arena became ill and 48 died. It was finally discovered that the oil used to lay the dust contained a relatively large amount of 2,4,5 trichlorophenol and about 32 parts per million of TCDD.
3. In July of 1976, there was an explosion at a 2,4,5 trichlorophenol plant at Seveso, Italy. The large cloud of gas which was released was high in TCDD and hundreds of exposed human beings became ill. Thousands of birds and animals were killed. More than a thousand residents of this area had to be evacuated and many will undoubtedly not only lose their houses, but all their belongings that were exposed to the gaseous cloud. I suspect that the houses will have to be bulldozed under, as will the soil which was exposed to the highest amount of the dioxins.
4. Five or six years ago, millions of chickens in the State of Mississippi had to be destroyed because of a relatively high amount of dieldrin in their tissues, resulting from contaminated feed.
5. In 1968, several hundred Japanese developed a severe skin disease with acne, bronzing and other complications due to chlorobiphenyls in cooking oils made from contaminated rice hulls.
6. In early 1971 a leaking pipe in the cooling system of a fish meal plant contaminated about 16,000 tons of fish meal over a two and one-half month period. This had been distributed to more than 60 companies in ten states. Seventy thousand chickens were voluntarily slaughtered by the nation’s largest poultry producer after discovering PCB residues as high as 40 ppm. Later, 125,000 contaminated eggs were discovered and destroyed. A shipment of at least 60,000 reached the Washington retail market and were consumed. The extent of the contamination and the illnesses resulting therefrom will never be known.
7. Mirex has been found in the fatty tissue of forty per cent of Southerners examined. It was sprayed widely throughout some Southern states in a futile attempt to control the fire ant. It is now known that Mirex gradually changes to the even more toxic Kepone and that both of these are probably carcinogenic.

Pesticides interfere with enzyme function in body cells, the main shock organ being the central nervous system. Recent animal studies have shown that pesticides and the petroleum carriers or emulsifiers in which they are usually suspended, can markedly lower resistance to viral infection–changing a subclinical state to one of fulminating infection. Their use may account for the marked increase in Reye’s syndrome throughout the country. Most of the potent herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides seem to have mutagenic properties similar to ionizing radiation. In other words, they are capable of attacking and damaging the genetic code present in all body cells, consisting of DNA and RNA. Because of this property and also because small amounts of many chemicals have been shown to exert a synergistic toxic effect rather than simply additive, from the scientific standpoint there can be no tolerance level set for these pesticides. It is my considered opinion that, with their continued use, we are not only witnessing a marked and steady increase in viral infections, accompanied by a degeneration of general health, but are facing a cancer epidemic of staggering proportions. In addition to our chemical contacts, the destruction of our soil by the use of high nitrate fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides, herbicides, and monoculture, plus the destruction of hedgerows without the return of organic material and trace elements to the soil, is greatly reducing the quality of our food and thereby contributing to decreased· resistance to toxins and chemicals in animals and man.

The following suggestions are not new but are of fundamental importance. Their application depends upon a sense of urgency which is difficult to engender. Only when enough people understand the real threat to health and life will action be taken:

1. Attention to the soil is primary. Unless the good earth contains enough organic material to sustain the life of billions of microorganisms, which produce natural antibiotics and may directly nourish plant roots, as well as breaking down rock particles and other nutrients into a form which can be utilized by plants, we cannot begin to stem the tide of degeneration and the destruction of our soils will continue.
2. We must be extremely selective in the use of pesticides of all types, both for agricultural purposes and for the control of pests and weeds in our communities. I suggest that the City of Berkeley be contacted since I understand that they have a program of tree care which has greatly reduced the use of pesticides, and at the same time has lowered the cost.
3. The City must stop the indiscriminate use of pesticides on school grounds. All of them are dangerous. Short-acting insecticides must be substituted for the long-lived ones. Pyrethrins and rotenone (for fleas and flies) are suitable for use indoors if rooms are well aired before re-entry. (They should be suspended in a vegetable oil rather than a petroleum distillate.) Roaches and silverfish may be controlled by the careful application of special silica dusts or powdered orthoboric acid, without causing illness to human beings.
4. Tree spraying and the use of helicopters within city or county limits should be banned. They produce too much drift.
5. Weed control on vacant lots and about houses must be controlled by manual and mechanical methods rather than by herbicides.
6. The sale and use of powerful herbicides such as 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, Silvex and others should be prohibited within the city limits.
7. A campaign of education should be carried out by the Department of Health or another suitable agency concerning the dangers of pesticide use and the value of good nutrition in combating poisons.
8. Since chlordane, although it has been banned by the EPA, is still being used and may legally be used as long as stocks remain, Los Angeles should pass an ordinance prohibiting its use by anyone within city limits and imposing heavy penalties for such unauthorized use.
9. A special committee on the use and abuse of pesticides should be appointed including adequate representation by the public and should make quarterly reports to the City Council.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Granville F. Knight, M.D.