Pesticide Danger - Interview with Barbara Rubin

[Guest guest]

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Pesticide Danger

I-Team reporter Joe Collum presented a story about individuals who are

medically and emotionally plagued by pesticides. Although they felt there was

nowhere to hide, they knew they weren’t alone.

Barbara Rubin says her immune system was compromised by pesticides years ago.

She became ill when pesticides were used in her apartment building. She can

no longer go into her father’s home without a protective mask. She had to

quit her teaching job in September. She also discovered that she " couldn't

eat anything that had ever shaken hands with a pesticide. "

Rubin is an extreme case of what can happen from exposure to sprayed

pesticides. But awareness is increasing as to how little is really known

about the effect of pesticides on all of us.

Pesticide victim Pazmino said that she must cover her entire body

when she works in her yard. Otherwise she gets a rash on her hands, her eyes

sting, and the rash spreads easily to other parts of her body.

Ted Daly, Director of Pediatric Dermatology at Nassau University Medical

Center, believes that not enough research has been done to determine the

effects of low-grade exposure to chemical bug and weed killers. He said that

his major medical textbooks " don't have pesticides even as an entry in the

index. "

Children are most vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. NYS Attorney General

Eliot Spitzer’s office revealed that " schools throughout the state were

overusing pesticides. " Spitzer is suing the federal government to force more

stringent disclosure of reversal pesticide contents.

The EPA has begun reviewing new pesticide data to determine whether widely

used products may be too dangerous for human exposure. Nina Habib Spencer of

the EPA said: " There is a possibility that we might find some data about some

pesticides out there now that is more troubling to us and might result in

cancellation of some of the uses of these pesticides. "

Last year the EPA banned the use of Dursban -- one of the most widely used

pesticides in America. Recent studies have found it can cause severe

neurological and immune system damage in humans.

The U.S. EPA Office of Pesticide Programs

Online Brochure: Pesticides and Food: What you and your family need to know

National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides