(NaturalHealth365) Four children have died in Amarillo, Texas as the result of illegal use of toxic pesticides.  Aluminum phosphide, classified by the EPA as a “restricted use pesticide,” was applied on January 3, 2017 under a mobile home in which 10 people were living. When people in the home complained of feeling sickened, a family member tried using water to rinse away the poisonous substance.

Tragically, the combination of water and aluminum phosphide resulted in the release of toxic phosphine gas.

According to the Amarillo Fire Department, the children ranged in age from 7 to 17 years old. One child was declared dead at the scene, while the other three died at the hospital. Five other people living in the mobile home were sickened.

Pesticides that kill: Toxic aluminum phosphide can be fatal when ingested or inhaled

Aluminum phosphide, sold under the brand name Fumitoxin, is intended to be used to control rodents in outdoor agricultural areas. When the chemical is dropped into a rodent burrow, it reacts with moisture to create phosphine gas.

Aluminum phosphide is classified by the EPA as Toxicity Category 1 — the most toxic category — and it is a violation to use it within 100 feet of any residential structure. In addition, the chemical must be applied only by certified applicators or those under their supervision.

Symptoms of mild to moderate acute aluminum phosphide exposure include nausea, stomach pain, restlessness, agitation and chills. Severe exposure causes pulmonary edema, difficulty breathing, respiratory failure, rapid pulse, plunging blood pressure and death.

In spite of the regulations and restrictions governing the use of aluminum phosphide, fatalities have occurred – with children are particularly at risk.

Aluminum phosphide has claimed other lives

Children are more susceptible than adults to the effects of pesticides, as their developing organ systems aren’t capable of effectively detoxifying toxic chemicals.  This is a serious health concern for millions of people – especially in the United States.  In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control (in 2012), pesticides were the tenth leading cause of poisoning exposure reported to poison control centers in the United States..

A year before the deaths of the children in Texas, an 8-month-old Canadian girl died after her mother used aluminum phosphide pellets as a pesticide in the home. Seven years ago, two girls aged 15 months and 4 years old died in Utah after being exposed to aluminum phosphide on their lawn. {People need to be warned}

Environmentalists demand ban

Citing the potential for “misuse and accidents,” Beyond Pesticides has been calling for aluminum phosphide – and other chemicals with the same level of toxicity — to be taken off the market.  Because other, less toxic methods and products exist for rodent control, the group maintains that keeping aluminum phosphide on the market is “unreasonable” under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

In addition to presenting a danger to humans, pets and non-target wildlife, aluminum phosphide adds to the toxic load found in streams and waterways. Ironically, there is evidence that rats are developing resistance to it.

It’s worth noting that the fatal accident in Texas occurred even after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tightened up restrictions on aluminum phosphide. In 2010, the EPA called for ‘buffer zones’ in residential areas to be increased from 15 feet to 100 feet – and ordered that the restrictions must be clearly displayed on the product label.

Clearly, the restrictions were not enough to prevent this heartbreaking loss of life.

Groups urge use of integrated pest management and elimination of toxic pesticides

Both the EPA and Beyond Pesticides favor adopting a system of integrative pest management (IPM) – which involves education, better sanitation, and structural repairs in order to rodent-proof residences and remove access to places where rodents nest and congregate.

In addition, methods of mechanical and biological control – for instance, using non-chemical methods such as “snap traps” – should be utilized.

Beyond Pesticides also calls for rodenticide labels to require users to put IPM practices into effect — using toxic pesticides only as a last resort, and choosing the least-toxic alternative among them.

Chronic low-level exposure causes life-threatening adverse effects

In addition to the dangers of acute pesticide toxicity, there are also devastating effects from chronic low-level exposure – including neurological damage. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association – Neurology showed that pesticide exposure is linked with increased risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease.

And experts note that the incidence of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases have increased in direct proportion to the nation’s use of pesticides.

Close to three quarters of the 40 most commonly used pesticides have been linked to cancers of the bone, brain, bladder, pancreas and prostate – as well as to leukemia and both Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

Exposure to organophosphates found in pesticides can trigger obesity and diabetes, endocrine disruption, asthma and birth defects. And, even at low exposure, pesticides are associated with learning and developmental disorders – lowering intelligence and causing problems with cognitive function and behavior.

Natural health experts and safety advocates have long sounded the alarm on the dangers of toxic chemical pesticides. How many more lives have to be lost before these poisons are banned for good?

References:

9 diseases linked to pesticides

https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/health/texas-pesticide-deaths