Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-12-04


r supply shop, and supermarket
I has rows of insecticides for
every conceivable horticultural
situation. Those who fail to
make wide use Of this array
of lethal sprays and dusts are
by implication remiss, for al
; most every newspapers garden
page and the majority of the
, gardening magazines take
. their use for granted.
So extensively are even the
? rapidly lethal organic phos-
phorus insecticides applied to
! lawns and ornamental plants
that in 1850 the Florida State
Board of Health found it
necessary to forbid the COM
, mercial use of pesticides in
residential areas by anyone
who had not first obtained a
permit and met certain re-
uuirements. A number Of
deaths from parathion had oc-
Cured in Florida before this
regulation was adopted.
Use Made Eosy
Little is done, however, to
warn the gardener or home
owner that he is handling ex-
tremely dangerous materials.
On the contrary, a constant
stream of new gadgets make
Iit easier to use poisons on lawn
and garden-and increase the
gardeners contact with them.
One may get a jar-type at
tachment for the garden hose,
for example, by which such
Extremely dangerous chemicals
as chlordane or dieldrin are
applied as one waters the
lawn. Such a device is not
only a hazard to the person
using the hose; it is also a
public menace.
The New York Times found
lit necessary to issue a warn
ling on it's garden page to the
effect that unless special pro-
Itective devices we're installed
poisons might get into the
water supply by back siphon-
Iage. Considering the number
of such devices that are in use,
and the scarcity Of warnings
such as this, do we need to
wonder why our public waters
are contaminated?
AS an example Of what may
happen to the gardener him.
self, we might look at the
case of a physician-an en-
thusiastic spare-time gardener
who began using DOT and
then malathion on his shrubs
and lawn, making regular
weekly applications. Some
times he applied the chemicals
! with a hand spray, sometimes
: with an attachment TO his
| hose. In doing so, his SKIN
and clothing were often soaked
} with spray. After about year
I of this sort of thing. he sud-
r denly collapsed and was hos
( pitalized. Examination of a
: biopSy specimen of fat showed
}, an accumulation of % parts
e per million of DOT. There
e was extensive nerve damage,
Y which his physicians regarded
] as permanent. AS time went
on he lost weight, suffered ex-
. IRENE fatigue, and experienced
a peculiar muscular weakness.
a characteristic of malathion.
All of these persisting effects
were severe enough to make it
difficult for the physician to
carry on his practice.
, Besides the once innocuous
garden hose, power mowers
also have been fitted with de-
vices for the dissemination of
pesticides, attachments that
will dispense a cloud of vapor
as the homeowner goes about
! the task of moving his lawn.
So to the potentially can
/ gerous fumes from gasoline are
! added the finely divided par
5 ticles of whatever insecticide
' the probably unsuspecting sub
l urbanite has chosen to dis
( tribute, raising the level of air
: pollution above his own
{ grounds to something few
= cities could equal.