Pesticides

The Weapons of War Inside Your Home and On Your Fork

It’s time to face this one down and address the fact that chemicals made for warfare are rampant in our lives. Lets talk pesticides (and herbicides, insecticides and more) to understand what they are, where they come from and how to reduce them in our lives.

There are 800 pesticides registered for use in the United States. For this article, I’m specifically focused on the manmade chemical agents registered and known as ‘high risk’ pesticides, from various subsegments all within the umbrella of the generic label of ‘pesticide’ in this column. Although they aren’t sexy and often aren’t thought of on the daily, it’s time. Because like it or not, these killing chemicals are in our air, water, soil, home, and bodies whether we’ve agreed to it or not.

It’s a fact of modern life that high-risk pesticides are widespread, vastly sprayed, and often persistent (meaning they last for a long time, in our bodies and/or the wider environment). Unfortunately, pesticides get sprayed one place but don’t always stay put. Use results in drift, as the chemicals move through our air and environment. Whether ingested or inhaled, these seemingly small doses of poison, can really add up.

Photo by MILARD Emmanuel on Unsplash

Many of these chemicals were developed first as weapons of war. Designed as biowarfare around the time of WWII - many pesticides were made to harm plants and/or humans. Despite this origination pesticides are used far and wide. Too widely for our own safety. High risk pesticides like Agent Orange, a defoliant primarily used in the Vietnam war; DDT - an insecticide made famous in Rachel Carsen’s book Silent Spring; Glyphosate one of the most widely used herbicides and defoliants today despite it’s known harms and numerous lawsuits; the more recent killer blend known as DiCamba; also Atrazine the common pesticide known to change the male frogs into females; and chlorpyrifos a nasty organophosphate pesticide known to damage developing brains – to name a select few – are being used around the world for a variety of purposes and spreading harm far beyond keeping bugs on crops at bay.

Pesticides can be impregnated into certain seeds carrying their killing mechanisms to organisms further up the food chain, while others may get sprayed as crops develop and grow or as desiccants at the end of a harvest – and they may remain as residues that wind up in final products, others can be used to fend off diseases during transport.

To avoid unwanted pesticide exposures, shift how you eat; it’s actually healthier! (I will cover this in detail in other posts be sure you’re signed up for my news). Buying organic and local veggies and fruits, eating in season helps, it has been proven to reduce the amount of pesticide in urine within 3-5 days. Also abide by the clean 15 and avoid the conventional grown versions of the dirty dozen.

But pesticides aren’t just coming through foods. They’re also found in numerous personal care and household products. To begin to recognize them, pesticides are being used in any product labelled anti-microbial or anti-bacterial. The pesticides are the active ingredient in doing that work to keep microbes or bacteria from growing. While this can be incredibly handy at times, for most daily use as shown during Covid, it’s chemical overkill. This applies from soap to cleaning sprays, detergents to mouthwash, first-aid products to moisturizers, dish soap to conditioners. Sometimes these chemicals are even impregnated into fabrics.

When cleaning, people frequently use a disinfectant when what they want to do is get rid of dirt. Disinfectants don’t actually clean. They kill. So using a disinfectant to clean not only introduces unnecessary harmful chemicals into your environment, they aren’t effective for the job at hand. This is an example of using more chemical than is really necessary for a situation. (Overkill, literally.) Bleach, Ammonia and quaternary ingredients (Quats or QACs) are all pesticides by another name. Each is known to cause or increase respiratory issues like Asthma and irritation. Quats are associated with a bevvy of harms from developmental and neurological issues to lung and respiratory issues. They are known to contribute to antibiotic resistance as well.

Despite being pesticides, Quats are common in household (and commercial) products as they’re frequently used as preservatives, surfactants, and disinfectants. The structure of quats can force ingredients that wouldn’t otherwise combine (think oil + water) to do so in formulation. By modifying the ingredient’s molecular chains different properties result, giving quats the ability to act in products in different capacities making them useful in their versatility as antibacterials, anti-statics, hair conditioning agents, and moisturizers as well.

Be on the lookout and switch to avoid products with those anti-microbial or anti-bacterial claims whether it’s your household cleaner, your couch, socks, or anything else. Avoiding overuse of certain kinds of pesticides is also an important part of preventing further resistance to antibiotics as illustrated in the studies of Triclosan, Triclocarbon, and Parabens.

Need to sub out a powerful cleaner in your home? Instead of using a harsh detergent, a simple vinegar or soap solution will clean without harm. You can make your own or shop for solutions with just a few recognizable ingredients. Save the disinfectant for its designated purpose. Whenever you clean, always do so with an open window as you work and be sure to follow the directions for product use to ensure best results and safety.

Other easily recognizable products where pesticides hide in plain sight are ones designed to kill or repel bugs, insects, microbes, and germs in and around your home. This group is obviously for any insecticides (ant, roach, wasp, mouse or other pests) or a pest fogger, spray, diffuser etc. According to EPA data, 75% of US households use a pesticide at home.

Right now is a good time to rethink insect control and how you can approach it more naturally.

Instead of allowing our habits to fall prey to these chemicals, we should be asking questions about how much is too much exposure to pesticides that are known to reduce IQ? Inquiring why known Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), that commonly cause Liver and/or Kidney damage are allowed without labels at the very least? And why chemicals that are deeply linked to diseases such as alzheimers, parkinsons and numerous cancers used in products where exposures can add up to significant health harms? Who gave chemicals carte blanche?

These insidious chemistries are used on our plants, parks and in our products – they’re used so freely, dispensed and disbursed without borders or bounds – leaving each of us to pay a price. The real tax for this pesticide use is our health.

Which is why we need to reject them. Given all we do know, we must demand better control. We must demand more study. We must demand for better protections in the form of chemical policy and real initiatives to push regenerative farming over conventional chemical agriculture as well as proper healthcare.

While that may be far off, we don’t need to wait to take action. Even if what we know doesn’t tell the whole story of a particular pesticide, we know enough to have reason to act on restricting them. It has been documented that each year we spend over 2 trillion dollars annually fighting diseases partially brought on by pesticides (and other chemicals) use.

Despite those findings, pesticide usage still climbs around the world.

It often surprises people to find that pesticides are deployed so broadly in their homes and in products they’ve never really thought about before. When we approach products for daily use or regular household chores, we need to ask ourselves about the chemical cost of using such a product. We must stop and ask, “Is this product worth it?”

Now that you know about where pesticides lurk and why to avoid them, you can begin to reduce there presence in your daily life in order to protect yourself. It is possible to limit their use in your home.

While you’re working to reduce your pesticide load, write your leaders to demand change. Tell them what you’ve done differently so they know it’s possible and ALL constituents deserve safer products.

The good thing is that these chemicals can’t walk in by themselves. EPA data reveals that most pesticide exposure occurs indoors. Lets not give them a free ride.

With regard to avoiding unnecessary pesticides, there are 5 big takeaways to get started:

1. Reduce your pesticide load by changing how you eat. Shop organic when possible, eat locally grown and prepared foods when possible, and try and shop the clean 15, and avoid the dirty dozen.

2. Get to know your products, removing those with pesticides inside. Start by eliminating your use of antimicrobial, antibacterial or disinfecting products in exchange for a cleaner, less harsh option. Beyond Pesticides has a lot of useful information on Pesticides, if you want to dive in further. Specifically, they have a gateway tool where you can search by pesticide name and or harm. The certification I founded: MADE SAFE doesn’t permit High Risk pesticides in any of their certified products; and is a good place to start to find solutions.

3. Rethink pest control. You are living amongst these chemicals too. Can you stop regular sprays and use a more natural or targeted approach? There are resources for alternative insect controls and the least toxic and natural pest controls for many situations and for specific critters. While you’re changing your own practices, remember others may not be (yet) so take your shoes off at the door, and ask guests to do the same. This limits tracking other people’s pesticide use into your home.

4. Because pesticides are used widely they exist in most municipal water supplies. Filter your water with a system that can remove or reduce pesticides. (Remember, don’t source water from plastic sources.)

5. Write your representatives. Here’s where to go to find your Senator’s information and here is where to find your congressional representative. So few people actually take the time to write that your letter will certainly have an impact. Make sure your voice is heard, your convictions known, your imperatives registered.