Caroline Cox is a pesticide scientist whose work has focused on the health and environmental impacts of pesticides.
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Many consumers assume organic food is pesticide-free. In reality, both organic and conventional farms use pesticides, but the types of products, regulatory standards, and pest-management strategies differ significantly.
By Caroline Cox in Food | Earth Food Life Project | English | Guide to Alternatives to Industrial Agriculture
Switching to organic products is an easy way to eat healthier and support the environment.
Regulatory loopholes allow more than 30 million pounds of a cancer-causing pesticide to be sprayed on U.S. crops.
Known by its brand name Roundup, glyphosate is a clear and present danger to human health.
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Caroline Cox is a pesticide scientist whose work has focused on the health and environmental impacts of pesticides. She served as a staff scientist at the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides from 1990 to 2006 and as research director and senior scientist at the Center for Environmental Health from 2006 to 2020. Her research has helped advance public understanding of pesticide risks and environmental health.
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January | 2021
Chloropicrin is a widely used soil fumigant in California agriculture. According to the University of California, Davis, use in 2019 was over 8 million pounds. A breakdown of this use by zip code allowed comparisons with ethnic origin and income. Almost 70 percent of chloropicrin use occurred in zip codes with populations of Latinx (Hispanic) origin that exceeded the statewide average. Almost 75 percent occurred in zip codes with median household incomes less that the statewide average. These statistics show that chloropicrin use occurs in areas with disproportionately low income and Latinx populations.
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Many pesticide products are mixtures of multiple chemicals. These include active ingredients intended to kill pests, and so-called inert ingredients intended to improve the physical characteristics of the product. In addition, shortly before applying a pesticide product, applicators often mix adjuvants into the sprayer tank. Adjuvants are products designed to improve the performance or physical properties of a pesticide spray mixture. Manufacturers may use a particular chemical compound both as an inert ingredient within pesticide products and as a component of adjuvant products. Nonetheless, regulations dictate that data on use are publicly available only for the portion used in adjuvants. Adjuvants are exempt from federal registration, but are defined as pesticides in California. Based on that definition, California has identified α-(p-nonylphenyl)-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) (APNOHO) as the most widely used pesticide in the state, applied to more than 10 million acres annually. That quantified use includes only agricultural acres treated with adjuvants containing APNOHO. Total APNOHO use is likely higher because manufacturers also use the chemical as an inert ingredient within pesticide products, although data on such use are shielded by regulation.
Objectives: We use APNOHO as a case study to demonstrate that the use of adjuvants and inert ingredients is difficult to track because relevant information is not publicly available. We synthesize information that suggests widespread agricultural use of alkylphenol ethoxylates, such as APNOHO, may pose significant human and environmental health risks. We then make recommendations for future research and policy.
Methods: We used information from California's pesticide use reporting system and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to estimate use of APNOHO. We used U.S. EPA and European databases, as well as published research, to identify human and environmental health hazards of APNOHO. We focused on research showing that APNOHO is an endocrine-disrupting chemical.
Discussion: Within California, APNOHO is applied in more than 150 adjuvant products. Nationwide, it is used as an inert ingredient in at least 650 pesticide products. Exposure to APNOHO is associated with endocrine disruption, birth defects, and aquatic toxicity. We suggest that the case of APNOHO illustrates the larger problem of a lack of publicly available data on use and toxicity of many adjuvants and pesticide inert ingredients. We recommend that researchers and regulators include adjuvants and inert ingredients when evaluating pesticide hazards, including endocrine disruption. We also recommend regulatory requirements to identify all ingredients on product labels.