Note: wait until entire file is loaded before printing. This information is provided as a public service to allow you to judge for yourself how valid the urban aerial malathion spray program was or is...and by extrapolation from this example how valid is any proposed urban aerial pesticide spraying program.
In The Matter of Legislative Briefing On Malathion and Medfly Issues
May 10, 1995Monterey Park City Council Chambers
Transcript of Proceedings
Coalition to End Aerial Spraying Through Education (CEASE)
Corona, CA 91718-0605
e-mail: franceslwagner@ibm.net
Clinical Professor, University of Southern California
Topic: "Health Effects of Low-Dose Exposure"
Dr. Brautbar is a Toxicologist, Internist and Nephrologist. He holds a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Nephrology. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Medicine and Toxicology, and author of over 150 scientific papers which include toxicity of insecticides and pesticides. Dr. Brautbar serves on the editorial board of several national and international medical journals, and is an advisor to various national and international bodies in the field of toxicology.
Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Topic: "Is the Medfly Established in California?"
Dr. Dahlsten holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as Chair, Division of Biological Control and has authored 117 papers dealing with biological controls. He has been Mellon Visiting Lecturer in Entomology for Yale University, and served on the Forest Technology Management Exchange Team to the People's Republic of China for integrated pest management, as well as serving on the Integrated Pest Management in Forestry Team which visited the People's Republic in 1982.
Author: California's original Health Risk Assessment of Malathion
Topic: "Department of Health Services: Science vs. Politics"
Dr. Lappe holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a founding associate of the Hasting Center. He has also served as a Professor of Health Policy and Ethics at the University of Illinois. Dr. Lappe developed the Hazard Evaluation System for the State of California, Department of Health Services, and is the author of the State of California's original health risk assessment of the aerial spraying program.
Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Topic: "Economic Risk Posed to Agriculture by the Medfly"
Dr. LeVeen holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Dr. LeVeen has expertise in agricultural economics and policy with concentrations on agrarian structural change, farm income and commodity policies, environmental resource impacts of agricultural technology, consumer impact of agricultural policy; pest management, including urban pest management. He has served as a consultant for the EPA, the US Department of the Interior, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Neurobiologist UCLA Medical Center
Topic: "Necessity for Physicians to Diagnose Malathion-Related Illness"
Dr. Mancillas is a Professor with the UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology & Brain Research, and was formerly on the staff of the Salk Institute. He was affiliated with the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge University, and was called upon to give expert testimony before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors regarding the aerial use of Malathion.
Topic: "Medfly Program: History and FIFRA Background"
Applied Molecular Biologist Paul Mc Clain has worked at NASA during Projects Gemini and Mercury, and has an extensive fifteen-year background in medical research including. Department of Experimental Anesthesiology & Surgery University of Texas, MD Andersen Hospital Cancer Institute, and cystic fibrosis research with Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research. Mr. Mc Clain holds a Diplomate in Preventive Medicine.
Consultant: Scientific Accuracy of Health and Safety Research
Topic: "Latest EPA Health Findings on Malathion Exposure"
Dr. Reuber is an internationally renown pathologist and the former Director of Experimental Pathology Laboratory at the Frederick Cancer Research Center and consultant to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Office of Pesticide Programs for the EPA charged Doctor Reuber with determining the accuracy of health and safety research which the EPA relies upon for the regulation of thousands of pesticides.
Dr. Reuber was unable to attend the panel presentation in person, due to last-minute scheduling difficulties. His topic material was, however, divided among the other participants.
Good morning. I'm Charlotte Wagner one of the founding members of CEASE. It is the goal of CEASE to make the aerial spraying of Malathion the hot topic across the State with a concerted educational effort, by providing a forum for the independent doctors and scientists to address every aspect of the Medfly Eradication Program.
This briefing is an unprecedented event, bringing together independent experts representing the fields of toxicology, entomology, economics and law. In 15 years the state has never provided a forum for you to hear from the independent scientific community. The panelists are here to present information today in opposition to the State's Malathion Spraying Program; not only the latest medical and scientific studies but evidence that the State is consistently misrepresenting, overstating the danger to agriculture, and downplaying and minimizing human health effects and in fact is actually breaking the law.
Dr. Marc Lappe holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from the University of Pennsylvania and is a founding associate of the Hasting Center. He has also been a Professor of Health Policy and Ethics at the University of Illinois. Dr Lappe is currently the Director of the Center for Ethics and Toxic Substances. Dr Lappe developed the Hazard Evaluation System for the State of California, Department of Health Services, and is the author of the State of California's original health risk assessment of the aerial spraying program. You were seeing him on the "60 minutes" video piece just played.
Dr. Lappe was called away to a trial out-of-state. He cannot be here in person today, however he has graciously arranged to talk with us by phone from the airport.
So, I'm going to have Doctor Lappe address you.
Good morning, Doctor Lappe.
Good morning. thank you. I am very, very appreciative of the opportunity to talk to you this morning. I apologize profusely for not being able to be there in person because I know how valuable it is to be able to make eye contact and interact with you.
I have been asked to give some brief comments about my involvement with the Malathion issue and to raise some of the lingering concerns which I continue to have 15 years after my involvement.
In 1980 I was in charge of the Hazard Evaluation System in the State of California and, by default, the agricultural division I was in charge of making analysis refused to - we were appointed the job of making an analysis of the risks associated with spraying for the Medfly in ten working days.
I recall receiving 1800 references on Malathion at that time, and we did a yeoman's job with my staff, taking the principal roles of assembling this data and writing an initial analysis.
There are two key points that may have been lost in the veils of history over time: one was that we insisted and were granted the right - ethically the right to do what we call the worst-case analysis. We were very uncomfortable writing this analysis. We had grave concerns about the idea of exposing a very, very heterogeneous group of individuals with different health status and different needs for protection to a composite analysis. For that reason, we had come to an agreement that we could do a worst-case analysis.
The second point is that we were asked to make certain assumptions in that analysis, which were made and which still hold today; and which are equally erroneous today, I should add.
We were asked to assume that the spray would be exclusively for Malathion. We were not told at that time about any contaminants. We suspect those contaminants would be present and we said so, as you will hear in the covering letter that went with the report and on the first page of the report.
In summary, we did an analysis of the neurologic, the cancer, the birth defects and the acute health defect consequences of exposure. It's interesting that people from whom we got the assignment, particularly Doctor Ephrain Kahn, told us - told me directly that he didn't expect there to be in any adverse health effects.
We tried to avoid any presumptions in that regard, but we were well aware that doses that were going to be received, given an assumption of about 2.4 ounces per acre, which is about twice what is currently used, would probably be so low that you wouldn't see any immediate adverse effects in terms of lowering of the critical blood enzymes associated with response to the neuromuscular junction, cholinesterase depression.
The analysis, therefore, included, after it was done, that there weren't likely to be acute health effects from exposure to Malathion.
But analysis also said that there were concerns about long-term health effects; that we were concerned about contaminants; we were concerned about susceptible people in the population and we were profoundly concerned about uncertainties that were involved in our analysis.
That first analysis, which was not a draft, our final report in December of 1980, said that our analysis of a worst-case situation computed about a 5.5 per million risk of cancer in the exposed population. Those numbers were changed without my consent as the head of the unit. They reflect a 1 in a million risk of cancer for a child exposed to just six sprays. We were not told that they were planning 17 sprays, not six, so that was an additional multiplier of almost 3.
This led to our being concerned enough for my staff and I to write a memo to the head of the Department of Health just before the spraying, a memo saying that we were concerned that there had been a gross oversimplification; in fact, white wash where Malathion was given a clean bill of health from the Department of Food and Agriculture, and their analysis was substituted for ours.
Our analysis was reduced to a single paragraph which was excerpted and which was - the first paragraph said we didn't expect acute health effects, and the key caveats were unfortunately left out.
While we wrote this memo of concern, no changes were made in the plans, except weather-related postponements in the spraying. San Jose was sprayed a few months thereafter, and the rest of the history I think is clear to most of the participants.
The issues that you're faced with today - and I've reviewed as much of the current literature as I could - seem to boil down to at least three substantive questions: one is a legalistic issue and a ethics issue; 2, does the public have the same right to know that workers have when they're exposed to chemicals which is a full disclosure of potential risks? Does the public have a right to consent to this exposure, whether it's declared an emergency, in quotes, or not just as patients or subjects of experimental exposures always have? And finally, are we doing the wrong cost benefit analysis here by equating economic benefits which are undoubted from the spray operation from as yet un-tabulated health -
Now, let me make clear I'm not a flaming radical-radical that thinks that the world's going to end with Medfly spraying in terms of the people succumbing to birth defects which I don't think have proven to be an issue. I don't think there are neurologic effects that are immediate or evident.
But there are delayed effects that have never been satisfactorily studied, particularly those that affect eyes of individuals who might be directly exposed to spray.
I had written as head of this unit Dick Stratton asking that we establish in 1981 - in early 1981 monitoring programs that would record and measure the occurrence of any adverse effects that may be associated with exposure to Malathion, specifically allergic reactions. Respiratory and neurologic reactions to it should be reported and centralized such that we would have an early warning system in place if people were being adversely affected from the spraying. That was never instituted to my knowledge.
Finally, the concerns that we had in 1981 are the concerns that EPA continues to discover today. We were concerned about allergic reaction to Malathion, particularly because, albeit in larger doses, workers had a history of exposure and allergic reactions to the diethylfumarate. The EPA, in its most recent risk assessment, gives no clean bill of health. We are also gravely concerned -
I remain gravely concerned that, in the name of economic expediency, they were using an impure preparation that is laced through with toxic chemicals like thioates that change the risk estimation, and when incorporated into the risk calculations, the EPA has concluded that you have to watch for adverse effects from thioates.
That's not a sufficient degree of protection of the public from my viewpoint as somebody who's been concerned about public health effects, perhaps more than the economic effects of the Medfly.
Finally, I think that what you're facing is a belated public relations campaign with the same problems that existed 15 years ago. The public doesn't trust you. Rightly so, the public has an absolute right to refuse exposure to toxic chemicals in almost any other situation in this country but not to compulsory spraying, and they have the impression that dollars are being placed over the protection of the health of themselves and, more particularly, their children.
And as irrational as some of those concerns may appear to you scientifically, they are absolutely bona fide. And the psychological impacts of an uncontrolled spray program that does, in fact, bring these considerations of the public welfare is potentially the greatest health consequence of all as it affects communities' infrastructure, it affects trust in government
Thank you for the opportunity. I will welcome any questions that you might have.
Doctor Linda Bowman, the Department of Pathology at UCLA, and I represent the Leukemia Society of America. The 5.5 per million risk of cancer, was that over the general population ...?
That risk was calculated for a child that might have been exposed to sprays, made assumptions of about 10% dermal absorption. It assumed that exposure would take place in a 6ft. by 5ft.play size area and that the child would have been exposed on each of the six occasions to toxins from the spray. Doesn't assume that any ingestion would occur, as I recall. Principal exposure was inhalation and dermal.
It was a worst-case analysis for a child, not the whole population
And what Doctor Lappe had said, that his figures, as far as the crawl space, was altered to bring the cancer risk within a more acceptable limit by his boss, Ephrain Kahn.
In the risk assessment did they worry about the breakdown products of Malathion?
You know, our risk assessment was definitely worried about that outcome, but we couldn't compute it. We mentioned that we were - that our risk assessment was limited assumption that there wouldn't be any breakdown from malaoxon or from Malathion, and it didn't incorporate thioate contamination. Those would change the risk calculation today somewhat, and I think the EPA's current risk assessment incorporates those other contaminants.
Outrageous, frankly, that they have not used our recommendation which at the time was stated clearly that only pure pharmaceutical grade Malathion should be used in the spray operation. I do not understand why that was ever done.
I have a question to him. May I ask?
Doctor Brautbar has a question. Doctor Brautbar is a clinical professor at USC, he's a toxicologist, internist, he is a kidney specialist.
I wanted to ask you mentioned allergies. And you know that some people attack this issue by saying it's really not allergy and it's not allergy-related. Would you consider allergy as a general symptom for chemical sensitivity as well as allergic reactions?
The question was, if I understood it, did we consider allergies as a reaction to the chemicals of sensitive individuals in our calculation? Is that the question?
Yes. Other than just the specific I.G.E.-mediated process. rather than the specific immunoglobulin - I.G.E.-mediated process? Because, you know, a lot of people come and say that if you don't have the specific I.G.E.-mediated process, that there really is not an allergy.
We didn't incorporate any assessment of allergies that acknowledge the work of Thomas Milby and others that are done on occupational exposures. We didn't incorporate allergic in our risk assessment, but we cited those as adverse effects by writing Doctor Stratton to ask that allergic reactions, including sensitization, contact hypersensitivity and asthma-like reactions be recorded. That was 1981.
I frankly remain convinced that that is the single most important adverse effect that has been found likely to occur in high prevalence than the county assessments that have been made. That is an issue that remains a profound issue of concern. As repeated sprays are done, more people are going to be sensitized to this material. And I think that that has never been effectively incorporated into the risk assessment.
Charlotte, I have a question.
Richard Sigler, Attorney at Law, U.S.C.
Hi, Doctor Lappe. I became involved in this issue because I believe that my wife was severely injured by the 89-90 spraying in Los Angeles, including -and primarily neurological damage, and I heard you says that you did not believe there were neurological consequences to the aerial spraying. Since Malathion is a neurotoxin and that's how it operates, can you explain why you do not believe there 's any neurological risks to the population?
Yes. I can say that what we - I'll reiterate what my team said, including pharmacologists and specialists in that area, which is that theoretically the exposure levels in terms of dose response relationships were not going to be sufficient to see any immediate acute effect from the exposure.
But I also stated in my earlier remarks that we were concerned about what are called delayed neurotoxic effects from either cumulative exposures at a low level or from a single large exposure that led to delayed neurotoxicity which organophosphates are known to be able to produce. So I did not intend to imply that I vouchsafe for neurologic consequence.
Your name, please.
Harvey Karp. I'm a pediatrician in Santa Monica and I was a member of the Health Effects Committee report back a few years ago. Just one clarification: in terms of the cancer studies that were done, were not the impurities factored in to the risk assessment?
Yes, I believe we were aware that the original NCI bio assays used technical grade Malathion. I am not sure that it is identical in all forms to the one that's currently or was being used in the spray operation 'cause there's all sorts of grades bearing from that.
And I frankly - I do not want to raise a red flag about cancer risks as the message to take place by my talk. I do not think there is going to be any detectable increases in the population exposed unless there are multiple susceptible individuals in the population, and there are. There are people in the exposed population who have genetic deficiencies which may be itemized in subsequent correspondence like (transpony's) anemia or xeroderma pigmentosum that might make them ultra-sensitive to chemical exposures of this sort.
The big issue is the notion of exposing a full gamut of hyper susceptible and resistant individuals to a chemical in a mass experiment without public participation in deciding that this is the best thing to do. This has always bothered me.
So if I can understand this, Doctor Lappe - as far as the formulation of the Malathion, you said that originally when you did the risk assessment, that you were told that they were going to use a pure Malathion in the spray program. And what had happened in actuality is that what they're using now in the spray program, they're using a technical grade Malathion that is full of all types of unknown impurities. Am I correct?
Not exactly. We certainly knew that pure Malathion wasn't being used, but most of our risk assessment had to rely on studies that used, both technical and pure Malathion. We indicated that our risk assessment only applied to pure Malathion. We didn't have the wherewithal to break out or to separate the allergic chemicals that are present like fumerates. We didn't have any data at that point about immunotoxicity of thioates which have been developed.
It would have been an extremely salubrious step that would have assured much higher public confidence to have said, "We'll pay the extra price and use the product that's been approved by the FDA for limited use as a insecticide for our spray operations to assure a higher degree of public safety." That was something that still should be done.
Doctor, this is Frances Wagner I wanted to mention to you that that was raised with Cheminova, the manufacturer of Malathion when Corona was sprayed. They stated that they did not have the resources to create that much pure Malathion for that type of spray program.
I understand.
What her comment was, is that the manufacturer of Malathion, Cheminova, when contacted about why they're not using the pure Malathion, as Doctor Lappe indicated they should, the president of Cheminova said, They do not have the ability to make that much pure Malathion. So it's not feasible.
Then they shouldn't do the spray. That's frankly my bottom line. It's always been my position that represents the minority view, but it is - it's certainly choosing a more harmful chemical over a less harmful chemical that would have achieved the same result.
I have to leave at this point. Is there one final question?
Thank you very much, Doctor Lappe. We know this has been a trying circumstance and you've been really gracious to participate.
Thank you so much for your forbearance for this poor means of communication. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
This is kind of changing our format a little bit because of this situation, but it's always good for us to be flexible in life.
I'd like to introduce the former Mayor of Monterey Park, Pat Reichenberger. She was one of the original people that were opposed to just spraying, very consistent, courageous person, and Councilman Joel Wachs has written a letter. He was unable to be here today because of his city business, but he wants everybody to know that the City of Los Angeles is opposed categorically to the aerial spraying of urban populations. So I want her to come up and read his letter.
Thank you and welcome.
I am very glad that you could be here because I have, along with all of you and many, many other people, been involved in this. And two years ago this past April I had brain surgery and - with a tumor and I was sprayed 16 times here in the City of Monterey Park while I was on city council. And one of the people I went to at the time and asked for help is LA City's Councilman Joel Wachs. So I will read his letter at this time.
"Dear friends: City business prevents me from joining you this morning. Nevertheless, I want to assure you that the City of Los Angeles still strongly opposes the aerial spraying of Malathion. I am also pleased that other cities like Monterey Park, Corona have followed and found their own formal opposition to the spray.
"Contrary to the beliefs of the state and federal government, there still has not been one independent scientific study that conclusively determines that the repeated spray of Malathion over an urban population is safe.
"Our city urges the Department of Health Services to stop minimizing the adverse health effects and disseminate all the information that is available, especially in relation to sensitive sub-populations.
"I was appalled to recently learn of a new pilot program from the California Foundation For Agriculture being tried out in Camarillo elementary schools. I am told that the curriculum uses the Medfly to teach about science, math and geography as well as our agriculture's importance in the food supply.
"Instead of teaching our children about the possible adverse health effects from spray, the program portrays fruit as the innocent victim. In reality, it is our children who are the innocent victims. We must insist that this pilot program be stopped.
"Please know that Los Angeles will continue to use its resources to fight the aerial spraying of Malathion. We urge all cities to join together to ensure that sound policy decisions are made, particularly in regard to research and funding. It is time for agriculture to start paying its own way.
"I commend you for your efforts and urge all of you to continue your good fight.
"Sincerely, Joel Wachs, Councilman, Second District."
Thank you.
Now I'd like to introduce the Mayor of Monterey Park, Rita Valenzuela.
Good morning. On behalf of the City of Monterey Park, I would like to welcome you to our city. A critical issue for our city's residents for nearly a decade has been the topic of today's meeting, the continued use of Malathion by the State of California to eradicate the Medfly. We have seen the effects of the use of Malathion upon numerous individuals and property. We also know that this toxic chemical has failed to achieve the goal of eradication. In fact, the Medfly has continued to flourish and expand its territory.
The City of Monterey Park continues to oppose the use of Malathion spraying due to its health risks. We are very pleased to play a role in assisting you in getting the facts and information out to the public on this issue and the legislative efforts to stop its continued use.
An event like this would not be possible without a very wide base of community support, not only the community of Monterey Park, but the greater community of citizens in this great state of California. So many have contributed time and resources, made donations of services. I thank them all, but especially the Days Inn of Monterey Park and its wonderful staff that donated accommodations for panelists who came in from different areas of the state for today's event. to the Luminari's Restaurant; especially to Randy Ishino, our channel 55 television technician who is going to televise this event and broadcast it to our community.
But my special - my special thanks goes to you, everyone that is here today. You fight - your passion for what you believe in what we all believe in is helping us to bring a better quality of life to all of our communities. I thank you.
Just briefly, the City of Corona was sprayed eight times for one Medfly. The City of Corona spent $100,000 contesting this in the courts. And Mayor Jeff Bennett is one of the voices in Corona that has been outspoken and is against this program and continues to be, but we wanted to give more time for your questions, so the mayor has very graciously given his position for this.
I'd like to thank a couple of other people that have donated services, We're having this entire proceeding transcribed today, the courtesy of this wonderful lady here, Karen Peckham with Shirley Krause Court Reporting. And also we have the National Health Federation to thank as a co-sponsor who shares our goals as far as an informed electorate.
Now I'd like to introduce our first panelist. this is Paul Mc Clain. Paul Mc Clain has an extensive background as far as research. He has worked at NASA during the Gemini and Mercury projects. He has an extensive 15-year background in medical research, including the Department of Experimental Anesthesiology and Surgery, The University of Texas, M.D. Andersen Hospital and Cystic Fibrosis Research With Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research, and he also holds a Diplomate in Preventive Medicine.
Paul Mc Clain is going to talk about the history of the Medfly program and FIFRA -the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act.
Good morning. I have to tell you that I've been involved in this since the original hearings in 1990 with Joel Wachs. When you really understand the medical literature and you see what the State of California and the Department of Health Services has told the people of California, it just absolutely makes me so mad, it's hard to talk about it.
As a Diplomate of preventive medicine, my concern is not the gross picture of pathology anybody walking down the street would obviously recognize, but those subtle cellular disruptions and pathologies that none of the majority of the information addresses.
Also the degree of which the State and the Department of Health has gone to misinform you and give you absolutely erroneous data as to the possible health effects is just unconscionable.
Now, they've given me 20 minutes to tell you about basically a 15-year history of the use of Malathion in aerial spraying.
We talked a lot about the medical issues, and yet there's a primary issue or two other basic issues: one is, is this program legal? And the answer is absolutely no.
One of the blanket statements the State has made is that under the "emergency exemption", Section 18, they are exempt from FIFRA, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide And Rodenticide Act established in 1947 to protect people from pesticides.
That is absolutely not true, absolutely unequivocally not true. Also, the Special Local Need Exemption, 24-C, states from federal law that any pesticide registered under special local need now comes under the same jurisdiction as any other federally registered pesticide, including the ability to withdraw its registration if any adverse effects are seen on man or the environment.
And this is a very key phrase, "adverse effects to man or the environment." That will shut down this entire program. None of the emergency exemptions exempt the state from producing adverse effects on man or the environment with the use of these pesticides. Now, one of the things that in filing for, the emergency exemption, or the 24-C, Local Need, is there's a certain requirements to submit the application. One of those is that you must provide the data, not opinion, but the data supporting the conclusion that no adverse effects will occur from the use of pesticide.
That data doesn't exist. Most of the scientific data is highly suggestive that Malathion causes a number of pathologies. There is no data that says Malathion is safe. And I'll read to you from the state's own documents. They're same conclusion. So let's take the state's own documents. Let's use their own words which acknowledge these issues, but they never tell the public about it.
So first of all, they are not exempt. They must submit the data. Doesn't exist. The other is the environmental impact studies. Have never or were never done. This is one of the requirements that EPA must review the Environmental Impact Study before issuing the exemption.
Those studies weren't done until 1992. So from 1980 to 1992 this was illegal. Now, we had threatened a Writ of Mandamus which is a law that says government officials must do the job they're hired to do. They get paid for nothing otherwise. And we were in the process of filing this writ against the EPA to tell the President of The United States to tell the Director of the EPA, simply ask him the question: did you review these documents before you issued the emergency exemption?
The answer is no. He hadn't done his job because those documents don't exist.
The other thing it says is that accompanying the application must be all the information about other federal or state agencies involved in this spraying. This would include the FAA and you must send letters that you sent to them and their comments and replies about your concerns.
Well, the FAA has never issued the exemptions to deviate from the Federal Aviation Regulations as far as flying at the altitudes and speeds and et cetera. One of the things the FAA requires is that you have a disaster plan in case of a crash. No such document exists. And, in fact, if you look at the history of Evergreen, they've had three crashes with pesticides on board that totaled their helicopters. The state said, "well, it's really not our responsibility to look at the safety record of the pilots of the aircraft that we hire to spray your cities."
This is the status from the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide And Rodenticide Act that they have never complied with, and we have to assume either they didn't know, which means they haven't bothered to read the regulations, or they willfully ignored them.
So they are illegal in a sense, in telling you that they are exempt from federal regulation. And it just doesn't make sense to me, as a scientist, that Malathion, being a poison, is no longer a poison when you spray urban populations to control an agricultural pest.
Now, is the Medfly in California?
Yes. One of the other things that FIFRA says is that to get the emergency exemption this pest must be heretofore unknown. Well, we had a 1927 Medfly panel in California to investigate the Medfly. So I would say that really 70 years of knowledge about a pest that shows up virtually every year is not exactly heretofore unknown of widely distributed.
So there are a number of issues about the fact that these emergency exemptions were ever issued.
Now, why do we need them? Because this pesticide or any pesticide registered before 1984 are undergoing what's called a re-registration. And what that means is there are a number of biological tests that must be performed on pesticides to see exactly how toxic they are before they can be registered, and you cannot use a pesticide which has essentially not been tested or registered.
So Malathion is currently undergoing a re-registration like a lot of other pesticides. It's not unique.
Well, one of the things that you should also be aware of, think about, who's running the pesticide programs in California? Go back and look at the history of pesticide use in California. It's kind of interesting. And this actually came out of the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law, "Pest Control in the Public Interest" (Vol. 8:31,1988) and I'll just very quickly tell you a few things.
In the effort to control pink boll worm, they used - well, first of all, the entomologists said, "don't spray." They ignored that, and they sprayed with chlordimeform which later was found to be a carcinogen and was pulled from registration. California also pulled it from registration, but when nothing else was effective, they reregistered it in 1981 and continue to use a known carcinogen.
In the Medfly crisis in Santa Clara, they also requested an exemption for Malathion for the Medfly but also fenthion as well. Fenthion is an avicide used to kill birds
When the Japanese beetle showed up in 1983, no hearings, no environmental impact, no nothing. They started spraying carbaryl, diazinon and oftanol. Well, guess what, folks? Oftanol turns out to cause cancer also.
This is all out of state documents; Apple maggot shows up 1983. The first panel decides eradication was neither feasible nor advisable. So C.D.F.A. fired that panel, put in another pro-spraying panel and also convinced the State Legislature to exempt the State from the California Environmental Quality Act.
Do you think these people have any mentality other than to use poisons to spray and that they have any concern about its effect?
I would say from these documents it doesn't appear that they know how to do anything except spray poisons.
That's who you're dealing with. This is the mentality in Sacramento that you're dealing with when it comes to agriculture.
Now, it's interesting that at the same time the pink boll worm was a problem here, it was a problem in other states who use biological control for it. And ultimately here in California what controlled it was biological control.
And if we look around the world at populations going into what's called LISA or Low Impact Sustainable Agriculture without the use of pesticides, it takes about three years to turn around a field from pesticide to no pesticide, but the crop yield's almost double. So we aren't pursuing anything in California in the terms of agriculture that really is progressive.
I have yet to run into any of the city attorneys that have read FIFRA. These are the laws that control pesticides, and yet nobody's read them. It's not a wonder to me that the state gets away with what they get away with. Nobody's read the laws to challenge it.
Now, the state tells you that Malathion is safe and they have two studies to prove it. And one of the first hearings that Joel Wachs, City Council, convened, Sacramento didn't take it serious. People were getting sick. They called a special council meeting to discuss health effects. So Sacramento sent us Issi Siddiqui an entomologist. And when Joel Wachs said to him "Sir, you've told us there are thousands of studies that you looked at which said that Malathion is safe. Could you show us some of those?"
And Mr. Siddiqui finally said, "Well, you know, sir, there are no scientific studies that say Malathion is safe." Well, you could have heard a pin drop.
He said, "well, what we do have are some studies conducted by the state in Santa Clara." And he presented - his total support was a two-page document.
Now, what they say is they did extensive studies after the Santa Clara spraying in 1980-81. But, in fact, if you look at the state's own documents about what actually occurred, they sprayed six times and then they continued to spray for another year, but they did their study after only six sprayings. So they represent to you that this document includes the one-year spray. It includes six weeks. And you know what? They didn't find anything.
But what you look at in the state's document entitled "A Characterization of Sequential Aerial Malathion Applications in the Santa Clara Valley of California, 1981" (Calif. Dept. of Food and Agriculture, Division of Pest Management, Environmental Protection and Worker Safety, Unit of Environmental Monitoring and Pest Management, April 1982), as I said, the spray lasted over a year and covered 13,000 square miles. They did their study after six weeks, 250 miles. and they say they did extensive monitoring.
Well, in fact, for air quality they estimated there were 400,000 individual residences exposed. They surveyed 30, .007 percent of the exposed population. 476 schools were included in that area. They surveyed 11. 78 hospitals were included in the area. They surveyed two. and, in fact, they found Malathion in the air inside the hospitals.
This is their intensive study: six weeks and virtually none by - by statistical analysis, almost none of the area that was sprayed they actually surveyed in their intensive study.
What they said in the introduction to this document is that - and this is what Dr. Marc Lappe was saying when he did his risk assessment - there was no data, no existing data really of any kind. The introduction to the state's documents says the scientific literature contains little and, in fact, no information describing the environmental impact of aerial Malathion bait application.
"The scientific literature does not contain the quantitative characterization of spray needed to evaluate potential adverse effects on humans and non-target organisms. These inadequacies represent serious gaps in the literature and prevent attempts to evaluate the long-term exposure to a series of low-dose Malathion exposures."
They admit there is no data, and yet they try to tell people in California it's safe. While federal law prevents using the word "safe" when referring to a pesticide, it also says you cannot use any numerical or analogies such as "safer than" or "the least toxic."
These are forbidden, and yet whenever the County of LA sent out their basically bogus information to the public, they used the word "safe." They assured the public that it was safe. Okay? Forbidden by federal law.
What they found, though, in their evaluation of the spraying was that the deposition of Malathion bait proved to be highly variable for each spraying, and the deposition ranged anywhere from none to 6.4 milligrams per square foot. That's three times the allowable level.
Deposition in areas flagged for exclusion were significant despite efforts to isolate them. They assured us there was no drift. There would be no duplicates and that it was controllable. This says its not.
Malathion bait droplets range from 35 microns to 1750 with a mean droplet size between 200 and 300 microns. Well, in Los Angeles County the letters we got from the Department of Health and the Toxic Epidemiology Program was that, in fact, these would be 800 microns or larger, impossible to inhale. Their data says 200 to 300 was the mean range and some of them as low as 35 microns.
Significant inhalation. of course the, LA County also assured us there was no dermal exposure or no dermal absorption. Well, all the data shows that the dermal route of exposure is the highest and most likely route of exposure, and yet the LA County assured us no dermal absorption was possible.
This is an absolute bare-faced lie. This is in the medical literature. They also assured us that children, pregnant women and the elderly were not at any special risk. Any first-year medical student learns that there is a population of people defined as the very young, the very elderly and pregnant women that constitute a known high-risk group. It's just when I hear that coming from a medical man, it just makes me so livid.
They also said the extraction, removal of high levels of Malathion and malaoxon from rainwater creates a justifiable concern for aquatic life, both fresh and saltwater.
Now, that's what they said in the opening preface, to this characterization of the state says is worthy of review. What they find is that they only analyze live births in the hospital, and although there were six significant associations for birth defects, they didn't mean anything.
They don't account for the fact, though, by this chart anything to do with spontaneous abortion or stillbirth and, in fact, what you find is in the highly sprayed areas there's a 50% reduction among the black population in live births. There's a 25% reduction among other populations and a 12% reductions in the total number of live births compared to the unsprayed in the white population.
They don't account for these. Although I find it very interesting they hired Dr. Thomas to do an independent review which they never published and he says the most significant finding to deal with spontaneous abortion was abortion during the week of spraying.
Now, there's a whole lot of new data that has to do with an area I'm very familiar with in terms of free radical pathologies which would highly account for these kind of findings, but yet the state writes these off as being statistically not significant or due to some artifact.
This is what they showed us to prove Malathion is safe.
Well, first of all, let me say that all the references you see about Malathion being safe from two environmental studies - those are the two studies I just told you. That's it. There are no studies.
Now, when they convene this independent panel, more or less, and did the "Health Risk Assessment of Aerial Application of Malathion Bait in 1991", (State of California Department of Health Services) very interesting that the preface to those findings by Ken Keiser, who's the Director of California Department of Public Health, says: "Because of the concerns set forth in this document, specifically the small margin of safety for certain groups in the population, we recommend that aerial application of Malathion bait in urban areas to eradicate agricultural pests be reconsidered" in one statement and another "Considered only after all other safer, less intrusive alternatives have been exhausted."
That's not what they've said to the people of California. They've never said they were concerned. Another document says, "We have severe concerns about the immunotoxicology."
Now, these are all new areas that aren't part of the registration profiles. We're so far behind in how we evaluate pesticides compared to current technology, we're still in the dark ages as to how we test pesticides.
I think it's also interesting that during the basically 1990 sprayings here in LA the Toxic Epidemiology Program (T.E.P.) set up their hotline, and every time we'd be at someplace, say, "Well, if you people are having all of these complaints and all these problems, why aren't you calling us? We are not receiving any calls from anybody with any exposures to Malathion. We aren't receiving any calls."
Well, interesting, in their own document they say they received 1,178 calls of people complaining of exposure to Malathion., Because an individual cannot report adverse effects to EPA, it must come through a doctor. Well, it's very interesting that 38 doctors presented complaints to T.E.P. documented in their literature, and of those, 18 were confirmed to be the result of exposure to Malathion.
Now, federal law requires that those be submitted as adverse effects because that's what the EPA is interested in monitoring about the exposure effects. And I think we could ask Dr. Papanek who happens to be here today why those results were not reported to the EPA in compliance with FIFRA. And maybe after this is over he will have an answer for that since he was in charge of that program, or why he denies the fact that he got any phone calls when, in fact, their own documents says they got almost 1200. Different issue.
Let's look at what the Health Risk Assessment says.
We've already seen that Ken Kizer is concerned and says that aerial spraying should be a last resort, which is also what the emergency exemption says; that it will be used as a last resort and it will only be used - basically they assume twice, two sprayings is what EPA assumes in their "Emergency Exemption" to reduce the population to the point where sterile flies can be introduced at the level of 100 to 1 ratio. That's it. For control, not eradication. They did not give them permission to eradicate under the "Emergency Exemption".
Well, the new guidelines for the State are if one fly, one pregnant female is found, they're going to spray Malathion for two life cycles over a 16-square mile area period. That's the adopted protocol for the State at this point: one pregnant fly, 16 square miles of spraying, basically eight sprayings. That is also not in compliance with FIFRA, or the Emergency Exemption.
Let's go back to the Health Risk Assessment. The population as defined as high risk: the very young, the elderly, pregnant women, individuals with certain preexisting medical or psychiatric conditions, especially liver and kidney, individuals taking medication for hypertension, glaucoma or those with Parkinson's disease, the homeless and the nutritionally deficient. Protein plays a big part in protecting people from Malathion.
These they identified as high risks, yet the original data given to us from the LA Department of Health said nobody's at risk; no problems.
Their conclusions and recommendations are under neurological effects. The current regulatory requirements for neurotoxicity testing are inadequate. Aacetylcholinesterase inhibition, which is the major marker that they use which is totally useless, we find clinical presentation when the levels are high, are normal. We find lack of clinical presentation when the levels of acetylcholinesterase are extremely low.
This is almost a useless marker. In fact, it is a useless marker for what we're talking about. And they acknowledge that acetylcholinesterase inhibition appears neither to be the most sensitive indicator of neurotoxicological end point associated with organophosphate poisoning, and yet that's how the state justifies all of the medical data is no acetylcholinesterase inhibition.
Behavioral and neurological parameters such as learning ability, memory retention and electroencephalogram measurements seem to be more sensitive indicators than the commonly used cholinesterase activity. Malathion has been shown to effect both serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. These are the major, other than acetylcholine, neurotransmitters that work in the brain. These levels are altered.
Also, in terms of the free radicals, what we find for Malathion, and especially the contaminants and the breakdown product malaoxon, is the generation of lipid peroxides. This is basically peroxide and it just chews up fats of which your brain is composed primarily of fat. So is there any wonder that lipid peroxidation would cause problems in destroying brain tissue, much less the alterations in and even neurotransmitters?
This is known data.
Then they say there is no evidence that Malathion has the potential to cause organophosphate induced delayed neuropathy. Well, I guess they aren't aware of the World Health Organization studies and the EPA studies in thousands of people in populations that absolutely document delayed neuropathies after exposure to low-level organophosphates.
Also, "Advances In Neurobehavioral Toxicology: Applications in Environmental and Occupational Medicine" - this is a textbook, the authors say, "Humans are the most susceptible species to organophosphate-induced delayed neuropathy." The cardinal features have to do with degeneration of the nerve tracts. They also in their findings say that numerous studies indicate that Malathion causes adverse effects on the liver and kidneys. And this is documented by biochemical assays that we typically use for evaluating these organs.
Malathion has been shown to effect the immune system at nontoxic, noncholinergic levels. It's not what they tell you. There is evidence for developmental toxicity of Malathion in mammals. The critical effect is post-natal developmental retardation.
The available evidence indicates that Malathion has the potential to produce genetic damage. Several studies indicate that male reproductive toxicology may be affected by Malathion in specific testicular atrophy and some damage to sperm cells.
Now, in fairness, these studies are highly suggestive, and a word the state likes the use is "significant." There is no significant adverse effect. well, are there any adverse effects?
Well, innocent people might be suffering from something. When you talk about allergies, again, you're talking about free radicals which are generated which basically cause atherosclerosis and a number of other issues, not just sneezing and coughing. We aren't talking about that as an allergy. We're talking about parts of the immune system which are stimulated like interlukins.
That the compliment cascade, which are highly destructive to the body, highly destructive, nobody's looking at this stuff. A few researchers have demonstrated lipid peroxides and other free radical damage. these are not the typical IGE-mediated responses. They're from other mechanisms that are unknown. And what the State says is we don't know what this means. So, therefore, we aren't going to consider it in talking about safety.
These don't reach statistical levels of significance so, therefore, they're not conclusive. You cannot conclusively conclude that this is bad. And that's exactly what Issi Siddiqui said to Joel Wachs. He said to him verbatim "It is not the responsibility of the State to prove that Malathion is safe. It is up to you to prove that it's unsafe."
That's the state's position.
Okay. So the fact is we have enormous amounts of scientific literature that are highly suggestive that Malathion can cause and in some cases does cause adverse effects to man and the environment. And this is the big issue that will shut down the aerial spraying program.
So you have to ask yourself three questions: No. 1, Why are we spraying urban populations to control an agricultural pest, No. 2, has this pest ever caused any damage? Is it likely to? And No. 3, is it established here? Most entomologists say it is. If, in fact, that's true, again, you cannot ask for "emergency exemptions" and you can't spray urban populations for an established pest.
So I think those are some of the things to think about. And the fact that, in my opinion as a scientist, having looked at the literature and having gotten into this, living in North Hollywood, being around spray and thinking in my mind, my experience with the medical profession is this couldn't be happening if it weren't safe. And then I look at all the data and I said, "My god. These people have actually blatantly lied to the people of California, distorted the information, and this is the biggest whitewash fraud I've ever seen perpetuated under the guise of good medicine."
I'll leave that to you to decide if you want to look at the data. Thank you.
That was Paul Mc Clain. He's an applied molecular biologist.
I also want to acknowledge the councilwoman from Monterey Park who has been very helpful in this situation, and that's Judy Chu. I also wanted to acknowledge Mr. Eugene Gonzalez of the State Legislative Committee of the A.A.R.P. they had a very short notice and they came. Thank you so much.
Speaking about health effects of Malathion and the studies, our next panelist is doctor Nachman Brautbar. He is a Medical Doctor. He's also a Toxicologist, he's an Internist, he's a kidney specialist and he is a Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California. He holds a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Nephrology. He is Editor In Chief International Journal of Medicine and Toxicology. He has authored over 150 scientific papers, including "Toxicity of Insecticides And Pesticides". Doctor Brautbar serves on the editorial board of several national and international medical journals and he is also an adviser to various national and international bodies in the field of toxicology.
Thank you. I'm coming to you from a position of a practicing physician who sees patients, treats patients, as well as a scientist and a teacher teaching at the medical school. I have no political agenda, and I'm just going to talk about scientific and medical data.
First of all, in order to understand this issue, I believe that, from a medical toxicological point of view, one needs to understand several basics, and one is that regulatory and safety standards are based on normal populations; in other words, if someone comes and tells you that it's okay to be exposed to "x" amount of milligrams of a substance, that is really a regulatory issue. That is from a regulatory point of view. It covers only the normal population, covers only 56 % of the population, and it does not address the various heterogeneous population of genetically predisposed, medically predisposed, elderly, children, and all the others that we have heard about.
So that's a very important topic when you get this smokescreen that, well, the regulatory level is this and this and it's okay. Then you have to immediately ask yourself "Well, what is this regulatory level based on? How was that derived?
It was derived from looking at 56% of the healthy normal population. It was not derived at looking at children, pregnant women, elderly patients, patients with emphysema, patients with medications, patients with congestive heart failure. So that's one principle.
The second principle; almost all chemicals which have been shown to be cancer-causing or carcinogenic, if you want, in animals later on down the line, almost all of them, except very few, have been shown to be carcinogenic in humans. By today, there is a list of at least 38 of those chemicals.
So, therefore, the International Agency On Cancer Research has adopted a policy stating that if an agent is cancer-causing in animals, it is the burden of proof on us to show that it's safe to humans. It's not enough to say, "Well, it's just an animal so, therefore, it's okay to use on humans. And I can mention to you just a few like benzene. Up to 20 years ago, 15 years ago, benzene exposure was shown to be carcinogenic in animals. We know for the last five to ten years it's carcinogenic to humans.
And there are many others.
The third principle is that in this country we are lucky, in this country to introduce a drug, a medication, which you can be prescribed to by a doctor takes very vigorous studies, sometimes up to five, ten years in order to expose you to these kind of medications.
My concern is how come you're going to be exposed? You are exposed to an agent Malathion, and the breakdown of Malathion -malaoxon which is mentioned in the P.D.R. the Physicians Desk Reference as a synergistic, meaning a co-actor, a co-factor of many medications.
How come you are exposed to this without rigorous studies?
Yes, you're right. That's not a prescribed medication. Yet your exposed to it. So I have great concern about that as a physician.
Finally, from a point of view of principle, you keep hearing this smoke screen, I call it a smoke screen of "risk assessment". Risk assessment really doesn't mean much if you really look - boil it down to a specific population of patients. It really doesn't mean much. If Malathion is reported to be carcinogenic carcinogenic in animals, only specific studies in humans are going to give you an answer. And all this risk assessment stuff is a smoke screen from a medical point of view.
Yes, it's been used. It can be integrated in a general overview. But by itself, it does not give clearance to anything just from risk assessment point of view. And I believe that has been used as a smoke screen not only in this issue, but I see it on and on and on in toxicology all the time. More people come to you and say, "Well, risk assessment shows this and this and that."
So what? I see the patients coming into my office with problems. They're health related to x, y or z.
Now I'm going to present to you the scientific issues in regards to low-level toxicological exposure. That's a concept which has been developed in the last five to ten years, high-level meaning when one is exposed to major amount of chemicals, gets knocked off immediately; and there is a low-level exposure where patient may not initially feel much, but later on some complications can develop. That's exactly what we're talking about, low-level toxicological exposure.
My presentation today is based on peer reviewed scientific studies, and I'll be happy to quote to you every single point which is taken from the peer reviewed literature. I'll be happy to provide that.
The first point is the exposure assessment. Assessment of human exposure was based on measurements of Malathion in the environment, or at least one of the assessments. It's very clear today from recently published scientific data - and one of the senior authors is Mark A. Brown from the California Department of Health Services Hazard Materials Laboratory, in Berkeley and was published in Environmental Science and Technology, 1993, ("Monitoring of Malathion and Its Impurities and Environmental Transformation Products on Surfaces and in Air Following an Aerial Application") showing that Malathion, once exposed to the environment, changes immediately to, or breaks down to malaoxon. Now, malaoxon is much more toxic than Malathion. That's a very important point to remember because if you are measuring "x" and you say, "well, x is really not toxic and the levels are really not toxic" and you're not looking at "y", which is extremely toxic, you're missing the whole point in your assessment.
And that's exactly what's been done here.
The paper by Brown concludes that "Accurate human exposure assessment during Malathion spraying must consider environmental breakdown", meaning the change from Malathion to malaoxon. Furthermore, the paper discusses the values impurities, and that's a very important point which was mentioned by Dr. Lappe and by the previous speaker. The impurities, which are sprayed together with the Malathion, are of extreme danger, as you'll see a little bit later, as far as potentiating. We call it synergistic effect with Malathion and all malaoxon.
"This study showed that extensive transformation occurs in the Malathion impurities bait mixture following its aerial application" And further implies that the relative concentrations of Malathion and its impurities in the tank mixture (before the spraying) are a poor predictors of what will happen later in the environment and is a poor predictor of risk assessment. You're really not looking at the actual data.
Malaoxon levels increase from its initial concentration in the tank mixture up to 45-fold, increases after nine days. Knowing that malaoxon is much more toxic than Malathion, if one does not measure the malaoxon nine days - remember nine days - it stays in the environment. And also, rightly so, mention also inside your homes, not just outside. So if one doesn't address the issue of malaoxon levels nine days after, then all these studies have no scientific meaning whatsoever.
Remember also that malaoxon is extremely toxic and the levels are almost 45 times more than what the initial levels from day 1. So that's an extremely important point to remember. It's not been addressed.
The second point is the populations at risk, and as a physician, it's important to remember that patients who take adult medications, the patients who are nutritionally deficient, the patients who may have liver disease, liver dysfunction because the liver is a major organ to detoxify this chemical in our body, the very young children, pregnant women and populations with genetic diseases - these people are predisposed. How are you going to protect them?
How are they going to be isolated from the community which is being sprayed? How is this 44 % of the population which is at high risk going to be separated from the, quote, unquote, 56 % normal population? Are you going to give them special tickets? Special flags? Get them out of the city? What are you going to do with that?
That's impossible. But we do have to know about it.
As far as the neurological effects, I'm not going to talk about it. We have a distinguished speaker who is going to address the issue of neurological issues and toxicity, especially delayed neurological effects, and I'm going to leave it for Dr. Mancillas to discuss. And I'm going to go directly into the genetic toxicity.
Additional questions as far as to wisdom of using Malathion aerial spraying come to mind after recent publication by Peter Flessel in the Journal of Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 1993, entitled "Genetic Toxicity of Malathion: A Review"
The authors concluded that there is evidence of Malathion and its component to have a genetic toxicity effect, and this has not been studied adequately in human populations. The authors further conclude that agents such as Malathion, which caused genetic changes in experimental systems, are not regulated by health agencies as other human hazards are, and they should. They have the potential to cause cancer or reproductive problems.
And I'm going to read you from the actual paper - I have a copy of the paper here. In the conclusion the authors state "Workers who apply technical-grade Malathion and other pesticides have higher levels of chromosomal damage than unexposed individuals.
Because of the inactivity of Malathion mixtures in gene mutation assays, Malathion has been thought to be of little genotoxic concern; however, the pattern of chromosome damage in animals and mammalian cells in culture, including humans, indicates the technical-grade Malathion and its components have not been adequately studied for genotoxic potential in humans
What that means to me is that before spraying it and exposing patients to it, one needs to check it's indeed safe and it doesn't cause any genetic genotoxic or potential carcinogenic cancer-causing effects. That's how I was trained.
I was about to get into Dr. Lappe, but we had him on the phone. I do, however, want to reiterate his conclusion. And he stated "I conclude that, there is a significant danger to chronic toxicity and possibly genetic damage to the following categories of persons if directly exposed to commercial-grade Malathion aerial spraying: one, elderly persons; two, people with genetic defects of the liver; three, children; four, malnourished persons and sick individuals; five, overexposed individuals.
The next point is interaction with other medications and toxic chemicals. The most disturbing aspect of this issue is the knowledge that there is toxicological interaction between organophosphate insecticides, in this case Malathion and malaoxon, and medications or other chemicals. This means that even administering a low nontoxic dose of Malathion can generally or greatly alter the toxicity of other compounds.
That's a very important point for patients who take medications; for instance, patients who take medications which may affect the liver. And we know that Malathion, malaoxon affect the liver. Or patients who take medications which have anything to do with the enzymes that Malathion, malaoxon effect. For instance, beta blockers for heart patients or neurological medications. So, yeah, you can expose these patients to low dose, but for these patients, these are toxic doses because they're taking medications which interacts with that system. So it's toxic. It can be very harmful. That's a very disturbing point which has not been addressed in exposing large populations.
This scenario is of extreme importance in our case to populations who take medications which can magnify and amplify the toxicity of low-dose Malathion to something which becomes suddenly toxic.
How do we know who these people are?
Is it humanly possible to go out there, register them, then evacuate them and do all this? No, it's not. I don't think it is.
Finally, I'm going to address the issue of Malathion being a carcinogenic agent.
Recent evidence in animals indicated that Malathion is carcinogenic and, therefore, cannot be considered safe unless proven safe in humans. And I'm going to read you just a conclusion. I'm reading you from the paper - anyone who wants later to look at that - published in Experimental Hematology in 1987, by Gallicchio et. al "Inhibition of Human Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cell Colony Formation Following In Vitro Exposure To Organophosphates"( meaning Malathion/malaoxon)." The final paragraph states "Our results provide the rationale for assessing hematological parameters in occupationally exposed individual and indicate the need to determine both the mechanism and the environmental health consequence of observed hematopoietic effects, "(hematopoietic" meaning the effects on the blood system.)
And the second paper is "Carcinogenicity and Toxicity of Malathion And Malaoxon" published in Environmental Research 1985," by Dr. Melvin Reuber. I'm just going to read you one of the last paragraphs. It's a long statement: "Malathion increased the incidence of neoplasms, (meaning tumors) of the liver in male mice. Male mice also have atrophy of the testes. Benign and malignant neoplasms at all sites, in the endocranial organs were increased in Fischer male and female rats" and it goes on and on.
Very clearly, it is carcinogenic in animals unless proven non-carcinogenic in humans. I don't believe that humans should be exposed to it."
I'd like to close with a statement that, in my opinion and from my experience, I don't believe there is a safe level of exposure to Malathion for a certain percentage of the population. And, therefore, if the decision is to go ahead with such spraying, one should prepare the population at risk, go and find them, prepare an informed consent, explain to them what the risks are, have them signed an informed consent, train the physicians in the community and the community to provide the medical care and document these problems when and if they develop.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Dr. Brautbar. Our next panelist is Dr. Jorge Mancillas. He is, as Dr. Brautbar stated, a Neurobiologist at UCLA and Dr. Mancillas, in addition to being a professor with the UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Brain Research, was formerly on the staff of the Salk Institute. He is also affiliated with the Laboratory of Molecular Biology In Cambridge University, and he has also been called upon to give expert testimony before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors regarding the aerial use of Malathion. This is very interesting because when Dr. Mancillas was originally approached about aerial Malathion they were going to spray in Los Angeles, he was approached to do a video to calm people's fears that Malathion was not a danger to people. And the good scientist that he is, he looked into it, and he came up with an entirely different conclusion.
Help me welcome Dr. Mancillas
Malathion is a poison. The only reason Malathion was developed, synthesized and is manufactured is for its ability to inflict damage to biological tissues. I know of no other reason Malathion is synthesized anywhere in the world.
Obviously, its intended targets are those living organisms which we consider pests, but the main reason Malathion has such widespread use is because, like other organophosphates, it has a broad spectrum of applicability; that is, that it affects many species.
And the explanation for that is that it affects, again like other organophosphates, those entire targets, those living organisms by a common mechanism, a mechanism that is applicable, that is found both in the simple organisms which we treat as agricultural pests as well as humans. That is through the, inhibition of an enzyme called cholinesterase. Inhibition of this enzyme cholinesterase causes buildup of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
Many of our nerve cells, cells that communicate with one another to process information, nerve cells that are used to communicate information to the brain from the outside world, nerves that control muscles, glands and other organs, communicate with one another by releasing, by squirting a very minute amount of a chemical neurotransmitter,(acetylcholine) a chemical that activates those muscles, those other nerve cells, those glands.
But as a system of communication, that message has to be brief as in a telegraph key; that has a spring that makes it go back. The way these systems regulates the length of the message is that the cell response to acetylcholine released by nerve cells have, among other things, an enzyme called cholinesterase which degrades acetylcholine, thus, mopping it up, removing it. It is like this the enzyme cholinesterase works, if you wish as the spring that sends the telegraph key up again and makes the message be very well defined in time.
What Malathion does is it inhibits cholinesterase. And the effect is as if the telegraph key got stuck, it's a continued message. And, therefore, the distribution - the widespread distribution of acetylcholine throughout organs controlled by the brain explains the very ubiquitous effects, the well-documented effects of Malathion in the clinical and scientific literature.
At low levels of exposure - and most of the studies are based on accidental exposure either in agricultural fields or more likely in manufacturing plants. At low-dose exposures the symptoms include dizziness, headaches, loss of coordination, lack of balance, all of which have to do with inability of the brain or the cells in the brain to have a defined message because of the inhibition of cholinesterase by Malathion. It also includes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea because the muscles controlled by nerve cells which reaches the colon continue to contract over a period of time. They hyper-contract and cause a disturbance and excess in intestinal movements.
At higher doses it may impair respiration and affect the cardiac rhythm, again because instead of the contraction of muscles under the influence of nerve cells that contain acetylcholine is no longer rhythmic and patterned, but it is overextended because of the inhibition of cholinesterase.
At high-enough doses Malathion can cause convulsions, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, and there are documented cases of Malathion-caused death.
In addition to the immediate acute effects of exposure to Malathion, significant repeated exposure to low levels of Malathion over a period of time can lead to delayed long-term neurotoxic effects, permanent irreversible damage to the nervous system. I will expound on that in a few minutes.
Malathion also, again, depending on the dose, causes damage to genetic material, to DNA if the level of exposures are high enough, this could potentially lead to the development of cancer, and there's very suggestive evidence in experiments with animals.
If it occurs during pregnancy, damage to genetic material occurs in pregnancy and if the levels of exposure are high enough, this can lead to myocongenital abnormalities, birth defects or stillbirths.
The level of risk, the likelihood that any of these immediate or long-term negative effects will be observed, depends on the dose. That is the amount absorbed by the skin, through the skin, by inhalation from Malathion in the air (after it dries out from the ground) because the sun does come out the next day even if the droplets are sticking to the ground, Malathion has been measured in the air by CDFA technicians.
It also depends on the presence of other factors that also affect the cholinergic system, the group of nerve cells that use acetylcholine to communicate within the brain. Such factors are not very rare. They include alcohol, nicotine, cigarette smoke containing nicotine and a number of medications, some of which have already been mentioned by Dr. Brautbar
It also depends, of course, on the state of health of the individual. What I mentioned so far is the potential risks based on analysis of the clinical and experimental data published in peer-reviewed literature. But spraying over urban areas, densely populated areas like Los Angeles, like those communities in Northern California that have been sprayed, like Corona, like Camarillo, present special risks.
First, in those areas there's the presence of pollutants which may lead to synergistic interactions or undesirable reactions. And these are not always those pollutants that we already identified as having adverse effects on our health. There's also factors which may have unexpected effects on the Malathion -or on any substance that is already sprayed; for example, in 1975 there was an accident in Pakistan which led to five deaths and 2800 cases of severe poisoning which is believed to have been caused by an unexpected reaction with Malathion turning it into iso-malathion which is more toxic.
The second reason that spraying of urban areas poses special risk is because the larger the population, certainly in dense-populated areas as opposed to agricultural fields, there is a higher number of people that we categorize as being at special risk, susceptible populations. I want to emphasize that among those that are considered susceptible we have to include the aged or children because of their diminished ability of their livers to process Malathion leading to Malathion circulating in their bloodstream for a prolonged - for a longer period of time.
When you spray a substance like Malathion over an area like that which is sprayed 1989-1990 in Los Angeles with a population of 1.6 million people, even 1% amounts to 16,000 people. Even if the especially susceptible population was just 1%, you are talking about 16,000 people.
In addition, as Dr. Lappe pointed out, there are increased concerns because of the use of technical-grade Malathion, 5 % of which consists of at least 16 impurities. This practice is inexplicable not only because some of them may be toxic, but because there's a well-documented series of reports on synergistic effects which are not just simply additive, but they potentiate exponentially the effect of one another.
But still the question remains: if the risk posed by a substance depends on the dosage to which you're exposed, what are the risks for the normal person?
Well, the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, as it does with other substances, other poisons, has set an acceptable daily intake level for Malathion extrapolated from animal studies of .02 milligrams per kilogram. This is based on a no observable effect level of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram;(the amount below which no effects will be observed) that is, if you are exposed to 0.2,(two-tenths of a milligram) per your body weight, you will display adverse health effects. This is a normal adult.
When residents of the area have been sprayed are informed of the levels sprayed - of Malathion spraying in the areas where they live, they are told that the amounts are very small. And it is true. In Los Angeles it amounted to 1.4 milligrams per square foot. In Corona and Norco it is claimed that it was 1 milligram per square foot.
If we take those figures and put them together with EPA's acceptable (PADI) and no Observable Effects level (NOEL), using those figures, a 50-pound child, a 22.7 kilogram child, would have to be exposed to the Malathion in .45 square foot: one half a square foot, (the Malathion deposited on the surface smaller than this page) to exceed the EPA's acceptable daily intake level. They would have to be exposed to the Malathion deposited on the surface of four and a half square feet, about the surface of the front of this podium, in order to exceed the EPA's observable/no observable effect level.
The fact is that when the C.D.F.A. technicians measured the rate of deposition, not the predicted, but the actual rate of deposition of Malathion in the spray areas in Los Angeles, they found that the average concentration was 40 % higher. That is not 1.4, but 1.96 milligrams per square foot. And in some areas the concentrations were over 3 and a half times the predicted concentration; that is, 4.988 milligrams per square foot.
What does this mean?
This means that in those areas that 50-pound child would have to be exposed to the Malathion on that surface equivalent to that of a dollar bill in order to exceed the EPA's acceptable daily intake level.
Was it surprising, then, that thousands of people reported adverse health effects during the period which Malathion was sprayed over Los Angeles?
What we really need to know is the circumstances in which Malathion was sprayed in the air in which it was sprayed, what was the amount that got into people's bloodstream?
And it's not terribly difficult. It is very difficult for individuals such as ourselves, but it's not terribly difficult for Department of Health Services to conduct a monitoring program. Examine the presence of metabolites; Malathion metabolites in the urine or Malathion in the bloodstream of persons and residents of the sprayed areas as well as the levels of cholinesterase, the levels of that particular enzyme in the blood of people in the sprayed areas.
No such programs have systematically been carried out.
At best - at best, over the last few years an experiment has been carried out in California with the residents of California and no one is collecting the data. But such studies have been performed even if they have been maligned by the propaganda of CDFA.
In the 1960s and seventies a team headed by Dr. Satoshi Ishikawa of Kitasato University in Japan carried very thorough systematic studies in the Saku region of Japan, an agricultural region, with a population which was exposed to aerial spraying of Malathion. They took blood samples of the residents, they took urine samples, they used control groups. They compared them with control groups in areas that had not been sprayed and found very alarmingly and documented in peer review journals that Malathion exposure was associated with optic neuropathy, a number of disturbances of the visual system. And these studies only add to a literature that existed before. The article by Parker published in 1955 that document after exposure to Malathion long-term toxic effects, weakness of muscle, sensory disturbances. Goldman in 1958 published after exposure to Malathion, specifically weakness of muscle, sensory disturbances. Healey's group in 1959, "Ascending Paralysis Following Malathion Intoxication" chronic exposure leading to ascending paralysis.
This is referring to the existing literature, documented adverse effects to the nervous system, long-term delayed neurotoxicity, symptoms that begin to manifest themselves a long time after exposure to Malathion. And as far as we know, those effects are irreversible because examination of animals - after animal experiments carried on by a number of researchers trying to replicate the doses that people in Saku region of Japan were exposed to - this is now known as the Saku Syndrome - examination of their tissue showed degeneration of the optic nerve and other peripheral nerves.
Now, this is no secret for neurotoxicologists. In April 1990 the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress issued this report. It's a very timely report prepared by twelve of the most authoritative neuroscientists in the country and six of the foremost neurotoxicologists.
Under the heading of "Neurotoxic Pesticide" this report states that carbonates and organophosphates, the class of pesticide to which Malathion belongs, are, quote, "The most neurotoxic classes of pesticides used in the United States and are the most common causes of agricultural poisoning." Again, I'm quoting from that report. "A number of researchers have observed persistent alteration of brain function after exposure to organophosphates which can produce delayed and persistent neuropathy by damaging certain nerves of the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system, end of quote.
The report also discusses reports that after poisoning with parathion and mevinphos and Malathion which, quote, "Indicate that 4 to 9 % of the acutely poisoned individuals experience delayed or persistent neurological and psychiatric effects such as agitation, insomnia, weakness, nervousness, irritability, forgetfulness and confusion and depression." Persistent mental disturbance is reported as delirium, combativeness, hallucinations and psychosis.
Now, this is why the aerial spraying of neurotoxics - neurotoxic substances over urban areas is so insidious. It's that individuals who are affected and experienced insomnia, psychiatric effects, or subtle loss of coordination in their movements do not associate them with exposure to Malathion. Their doctors may not make a connection unless there is a record of what amounts of substances like Malathion they were exposed to during the aerial spraying.
The C.D.F.A. and D.H.S. in 1990 tried to discredit doctor Ishikawa and the other scientists (whose results were published in peer-reviewed journals) by carrying out a pr campaign; assembling a committee of designated, quote, unquote, experts to discredit the studies. The way the scientists resolve differences of opinion is by replicating those studies. If they're going to spray, at least they could have conducted those studies, but they didn't, for obvious reasons.
Let me add one thing which Dr. Brautbar referred to. As I mentioned, at best, an experiment has been carried out on the population of California, and I hope it will not be continued to be performed. Whenever a substance or a particular medical procedure is offered to a patient for his or her own benefit, as long as there's any uncertainty or any type of experimental edge to the treatment or medication - I'm talking about medication, let alone substances that are known to be toxic - a doctor, physician must - must obtain from them their informed consent.
In the case of the aerial spraying of Malathion, not only have residents of those communities sprayed - and as far as I know, every single city council or elected body has expressed their lack of consent - their opposition repeatedly overruled by declaration of "state of emergency" by the governor of the State of California.
Informed consent is not an issue in a totalitarian society. I would like to believe that I live in a democracy.
Thank you, Dr. Mancillas.
I would like to mention that the City of Corona has passed a resolution declaring Corona an "Aerial Malathion Free Spray Zone", and I would like to encourage any of the other representatives of the other cities in California to do likewise. Even though this is only a symbolic gesture, it sends a message to the State as to the opposition of this. And you can get copy of the resolution. A lot of other cities have passed similar type resolutions stating their opposition to the Malathion spraying.
Our next panelist was going to be Dr. Melvin Reuber who was formerly head of the Frederick Cancer Research Laboratory of The National Cancer Institute. He had a family emergency in Denver. But I did want to have his - there's a study that has just been released by the EPA. The EPA is requiring certain studies because Malathion is undergoing re-registration. Originally as one of the panelists mentioned, Dr. Reuber had stated that Malathion is a carcinogen in the laboratory. This was a very controversial finding. So the EPA had that study replicated again, and those findings are in, and this is the actual documentation from that study on oncogenicity.
And do you have that, Dr. Mancillas? Will you read that, the conclusions on the EPA study? I guess it's Paul Mc Clain.
This is a document from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Aug. 1994) from Brian Dementi who is one of the chiefs of the Toxicology Branch, Health Effects Division.
And after looking at this replicated study - and I won't go into all the details of the numbers and the findings and so on, in the conclusion part of this paper he states: "If there was any question as to the oncogenicity (or the ability to cause cancer) of Malathion in the mouse as manifested in the National Cancer institute study (and again, we're talking about the previous ones that were suggestive) - there is little doubt that this was so in the current IRDC study."
What this means is that they did replicate the study and, in fact, did again find that Malathion causes cancer. That's the bottom line.
There is another document that goes into melanomas and adenomas and talks about some of the types of cancer and especially, again, it affects the liver. And as Doctor, or both of the doctors pointed out, the major organ in the body that has to metabolize, break down, degrade to get rid of Malathion and its by-products is the liver. So when you have a compromise in the liver, you've severely compromised the body's ability to deal with any kind of a foreign substance, much less a toxic substance.
And this is where the majority of the cancers - different types of cancers showed up. So the study was again replicated and, again, the findings were conclusive that Malathion is a cancer causing agent.
Now, I will point out one thing - and this again is part of the smoke screen of the state. They'll go back to a document or any kind of scientific research and say, "But look at the dose. These are high doses."
But again, as the doctors pointed out, when you have compromised individuals, we don't know what the toxic doses are. And a label that Dr. Mancillas has mentioned which you never hear from the state is called NOEL: No Observable Effect Level.
That's basically, depending on the individual, anywhere from 10 to a 100 times lower than the established doses that don't result in any observable effect. So we're seeing that all this data always talks about acetylcholinesterase which, as we said, it's a lousy marker for anything. And we're talking about levels that will absolutely create clinically diagnosed conditions. But the non-observable effect levels is what we need to be concerned about and even lower levels, and those are never discussed.
So that's just, again, part of the smoke screen, but the document From EPA does conclude, again, that it is a carcinogen, which again puts it up for special review before the pesticide can be used, part of FIFRA.
Thank you. Any of the documentation that has been mentioned as far as these studies you can get copies of this. Please let me know. And there's also a book out there called "What the Government Won't Tell About Malathion" that's put together by Frances Wagner, and everything is substantiated with the documentation.
If your elected officials aren't represented today, you need to ask them why not because this is the first forum that elected officials have ever had to hear from the independent scientific community.
This is essential information because what's happening is that currently in the LA and in the Orange County area they are using the sterile flies. This is an experiment. This program is over next year, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture has indicated that not only for the Medfly, but for 15 other species of fly the preferred option is Malathion. This is - this is a defining point. We all have to join together to demand accountability. And as the doctors were saying, it's not that these studies are not known; that these health effects to children and to the aged are not known, but the Department of Health Service is not doing their job because they are not disseminating this information to the County Health Directors and to the physicians and to the hospitals. They are not monitoring.
And as far as that latest EPA study that shows that there is a marked increase in the melanomas and adenomas in the laboratory from Malathion. So this is a real concern. And the only way that this is going to stop is that every single one goes back to your city, goes back to your group, goes back to the elected representative that you are here in attendance for and make this an issue because this is something that is affecting all Californians.
And I think also - is Morgan Stains here? Thank you very much. Mr. Stains is representing Assemblywoman Dorris Allen from Huntington Beach in Orange County, Chair of the Health Committee.
Okay Before we continue, I wanted to give you an opportunity if you had some questions about the first segment which was the health effects. So if you have any questions for any of our participants up to this point, please state your name and your affiliation and ask your question.
Christopher Childs of Greenpeace. This is for anyone on the panel. I was looking over some material in my computer memory last night and found a piece that noted that Malathion has been used in combination with ground-applied pesticides, other organophosphates. I'm sorry, I don't remember the list.
Typically diazinon.
I'm very interested in your comments not only about the potentiality for combination effects with those chemicals, but also, since nine out of ten of us are carrying around one or another of the family of dioxins in our body tissue and a lot of other stuff, any of your thoughts on this subject of possible combinations with other chemicals?
I think one of the interesting issues, not only - if we get away from aerial spraying, we're still probably going to endure the fruit stripping and the local spraying of Malathion and diazinon around the infected or infested trees. And if you look at the toxicity of diazinon which is substantially greater by a 100 fold, at least, than Malathion - and this is sprayed under the trees. I think it's 15-foot diameter or something. And you look at the rate of dermal absorption through the skin, which is quite high; and again, who's going to be exposed to this is typically children. They're out in the yard playing three, four to eight hours a day, in California typically in shorts with high dermal exposure areas. Their likelihood of exposure to a tree in their yards that's been treated with diazinon is astronomically high.
Now, again, we were assured by the Los Angeles Department of Health this wasn't so. Individuals have even made the most ludicrous statement that you could lick up all the Malathion on an entire football field before you were affected.
Absolutely - I cannot imagine anybody with half a brain making that statement, much less telling it to the public in California. So when you look at not only the interaction of Malathion with diazinon, with existing environmentally accumulated toxins, all of which have to go through the liver and kidney, I think we can say there are no studies that have ever addressed that. But the studies that have looked at a number of the environmental issues all conclude that the additions of additional burdens almost exponentially, or logarithmically increase your susceptibility to the pathology that's going to eventuate from it.
But I think Dr. Feldman made this point in the lobby that the most impressive thing right now about this issue isn't the data itself but the lack of data, and yet we're going full bore as if we had good positive self-assured statements that there is no consequence to this. That simply is not true. So your question do we have data? I'm not aware of any.
I agree with you, but I think the studies of Cohen in Pharmacology literature show very clearly No. I Any organophosphorous materials are going to be extremely synergistic with any level of Malathion, and malaoxon, No.2 Any materials which work on esterases, which are a group of enzymes, are going to be a synergistic chemical working with Malathion.
So I think those data are available. And if one looks at those data, it's very clear that pharmacologically it is there. It's very clear.
And as well, as other agents, medications that - in the liver there's a cytochrome, P-450 system, which is very much involved here. Anything that affects that is going to affect the ability of the body to deal with these burdens.
Medications which increase or decrease the ability of the liver to convert Malathion to malaoxon (which is one thousand to 10,000 times more toxic than the Malathion). So in one sense as a chemical agent, Malathion per se, you might even say although it's toxic, it is not near - not near as disastrous as the breakdown products which is required for excreta. That is malaoxon and a lot of other things which are - as I say, in the thousands of times more toxic and more destructive to the body in terms, again, of free radical initiation Khan the Malathion.
So if we keep asking about Malathion, we're only talking about one of the least toxic of the products that you're exposed to when you're exposed to Malathion.
I'd like to make a little more of a statement than ask a question. I'm a pediatrician and I'm on the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on Environmental Health, And I was further a member of the Medical Effects committee that came out with a report saying that we felt that the Malathion spraying was of inconsequential or minimal risk to the community. So before you applaud, you should know that as well.
Let me say we're all here speaking in service of science and trying to get the best information out possible and that I hope you hear what I have to say knowing that my goal as a scientist is to review this information as well and give you the best possible information to help guide the public.
I think that Malathion spraying is a stupid thing to do. As has been discussed earlier, it is a gigantic experiment that is not being adequately controlled. We have not, both the Department of Health and Department of Food and Agriculture and the EPA have not at all earned the ball in terms of doing the studies that need to be done.
Having said all of that, I think you have to be very careful how you interpret the information that you're hearing today. If I could give a couple examples: the cancer study that just came out of the EPA you commented, Dr. Mc Clain, on a preliminary report. I have here the final report of that study that I just got from the EPA yesterday, and it definitely shows an association with cancer.
And you hear that and you go "Oh, my God, I'm being sprayed with a carcinogenic chemical." But you have to understand something: that cancer is only demonstrated in the very highest doses. You basically would have to eat two quarter-pounders of pure Malathion each day to be able to have - to be exposed to these quantities. Now -
Now, let me ask one question in that regard. Does that also hold true for those high-risk environmentally or medically compromised patients that we're talking about? This other 44% of the population that's at risk, does that statement about those high doses in healthy mammals also hold true for the pathologically compromised individuals?
It absolutely does because there are two ways that cancers can form. as you doctors are well aware. There are cancers that can form by genotoxicity; in other words, some chemicals are poisonous right to the chromosomes, and they turn the chromosomes into cancer-causing cells. There are other chemicals that are only dangerous in gigantic amounts and they really stress the body. And what's evident in this study from EPA is that when you look at mice that are exposed to small amounts of this chemical, there is an insignificant change in terms of the amount of cancer that they're having. It's only when you get to these gigantic doses that you see cancer forming.
And I think that that's really important. My only concern is for my patients, and I want my patients who are afraid of being exposed to carcinogens to have a realistic expectation of what the risk is, and I think that the risk of a ton to Malathion, be it on your Brussels sprouts or be it on - in the sandbox after spraying is not the type of exposure that causes cancer, and that is imminently clear from the study.
Let me respond to this. I think -
If I could just finish my comments.
You are making your point -
May I finish my comments, please.
I disagree with what you say from a toxicological point of view.
This is the problem. The State never offers an opportunity for the independent doctors and scientists to speak. That's what this forum is today. This is for the independent doctors and scientists to speak. If you want to ask a question, that is fine. I'm not going to have somebody in here continuing the propaganda of "at this dose", "It is only the high dose as far as the laboratory". This is the stuff we've been hearing for 15 years.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has just allocated $240,000 of your tax money to convince elected officials that Malathion is as safe as toothpaste and that the Medfly is going to wipe out agriculture. That's the reason we have this forum today, so you have an opportunity to hear Doctor Brautbar, you have an opportunity to hear him because he is a Toxicologist, he is an Internist and he is a Clinical Professor.
And in all deference to you, Doctor Karp, you are parroting the State position, and I would like to have the independent doctors and scientists speak because the state -
I will just give you a scientific response to what you have kind of portrayed here. From a toxicological point of view, I think your totally erroneous. We know from many studies that once an agent is shown as a carcinogen in high doses in experimental animals, years down the line it is shown as a carcinogen in low levels in humans.
That's why the IARC which is the International Agency for Research on Cancer and C. Maltoni - if you are familiar with environmental medicine, you know who the IARC and C. Maltoni is -You have the people who discovered asbestos and cancer, benzene and cancer and others come out with a statement in writing that there is no safe level of exposure to benzene or safe level of exposure to asbestos. So that issue of high doses in animals is totally irrelevant, and I will quote you papers from the peer- reviewed literature who will show you very clearly -
Then let me ask a question. It's a question. Has there ever been a study - ever been a study where low-dose exposure to Malathion causes chronic permanent long-term necrologic abnormalities? Has there ever been a study demonstrating that low-dose exposure causes -
Yes, there are a number of studies by Dr. Ishikawa in Japan documenting these. I have a letter to Dr. Sadun from Dr. Ishikawa sent in 1990 where he compares the doses of, Malathion spraying - in Saku and doses sprayed in Los Angeles. There were some significant differences. The CDFA will tell us at that time, you see in Japan it was sprayed as a mist. Here it's sprayed as a droplet. Absolutely, there's a question of judgment, which is more dangerous? Because the droplets that fall on the ground presumably it's less because you're not breathing it. Well, the mist is blown away by the wind. But, the droplets do evaporate. That's why the CDFA technicians measure, you know, high levels.
It's a question of what do you mean by high and low? But definitely the detectable levels - what I would call significant levels of Malathion and increasing levels of malaoxon as Malathion levels fall down in the air because it makes sense, you know - the sun comes out, the stuff evaporates.
So I would argue that the droplets of bait spray pose more of a risk than the mist in Japan because the mist used in Japan was blown away by the air. It was generally inhaled in a few hours but was gone. You were not exposed to it anymore; whereas for the stuff deposited here you're going to be inhaling it, maybe at lower amounts, but you're still going to be exposed to it longer.
Now, I would like to make a comment about your general point because I think it's a point that merits responding.
May I just say I'm going to yield the floor here, but let me just hope for the future to have one side - the state just presenting its side is incorrect and to have an unopposed presentation like this. Neither one of those serves a purpose. I think to have a dialogue and have some opportunity to get into an exchange, which we never have an opportunity to do, would really best serve informing our Legislature. Thank you.
I think that's an excellent suggestion. For 15 years the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California Department of Health Services had unlimited access to elected officials, to the media to continue the information that there are no health effects from Malathion This briefing, though, the focus - the format of this briefing is to give a forum to the independent doctors and scientists. It is a legislative briefing. That is the reason that we are doing this. And certainly there would be an appropriate time to have, a dialogue.
Drs. Mancillas and Mc Clain have debated Dr. Papanek. That's not the focus of this. The people came here specifically to hear independent doctors and scientists. If you want to hear the State position, all you have to do is, turn on the TV. Ask anybody in here. They've all heard it, "There's no effects of Malathion." Never mind, that everybody's having the effects. The doctors continue to say that the state says there are no health effects. So that's why we're addressing this.
Do we have any legal recourse, can we actually sue CDFA, can we sue our board of supervisors or our health department and administrators personally? It looks like they're - I don't know what the right legal term is. Is this malfeasance in office?
I'll answer that question as a lawyer on the panel who knows nothing about science, and the answer is no
You can't do anything?
I'll speak a little more about the kinds of lawsuits that are theoretically available and I'll explain why big agriculture has managed to stymie those avenues. And as a result, the desired debate which Doctor Karp refers to does not exist in a forum where people testify under oath and where they can be cross-examined, where evidence can be introduced that each side wants to introduce.
Instead, we are left with these two forums what don't speak to each other, the State with all the power that puts forth its propaganda, and forums like this with people volunteering to try to convey the other side of it.
I want to make a brief point. In the years of participating in this public discussion, I participated in a number of debates, and I always welcome the opportunity to debate the other side because I thought it was very effective. But I can understand why the organizers of this forum felt what there was a need to have more time to express the other point of view which doesn't get expressed. I want to point out, though this event today involved a lot of work of people like Charlotte and Frances and a number of others here who volunteered their time and effort - expenses, again, were volunteered. Whereas, when we hear the other side, then we are overwhelmed with the other point of view it is financed by my tax money. And I don't see the other point of view on those materials the CDFA distributes never have the other point of view. They only have one point of view.
Now, I want to also address just very briefly, you know, the point that Doctor Karp mentioned, and I hope That in spite of our disagreements on this issue, we continue to work on other issues as Doctor Karp mentioned.
Look, if anybody thinks that I am here - I think this applies to others - trying to tell you that if Malathion is sprayed over an area where you live, you're all going to get cancer next year, Then you're really not listening. Absolutely. You don't see people in these areas fall like flies the next day.
What we are claiming is that we believe, based on the data that usually comes to us through animal studies or through long-term epidemiological data that has not been collected in this case, that this is comparable to our awareness which took decades to acquire all the risks of, for example, cigarette smoking, exposure to asbestos and other substances.
At the time you didn't see people falling dead the next day. It took years for people to realize that cigarette smoking was a serious health risk. That is the kind of risk some of us believe is involved here and we believe it is an unacceptable risk.
So for someone to try to misrepresent what we're saying - and I don't think that's what you're trying to do, but we - I am not, at least, saying that the doses are enough with the amounts sprayed that every single person would be at risk of getting cancer or to go blind.
But Johnnie Macillas - in 1990 he was 14 years old when he went out the night his neighborhood was being sprayed to cover the blue pickup truck that his father had promised him he was going to get when he turned 16 and was exposed to Malathion. He developed a few months later complete blindness. He was diagnosed by Dr. Sadun, a professor at USC, a Neuro-ophthalmologist, to the best of his abilities as being the result of exposure to Malathion. The suit is now in the courts. He was planning to become a UCLA student. He could have been my student. He's almost 20 now. I don't want to see any more Johnnie Macillases, even if it's just one person.
The thing that we're really upset about is the fact that when you look at the State's position on that, they say you cannot, even though it's highly suggestive, even though it's highly probable, you cannot with a hundred percent certainty say it was Malathion.
So that 1% of possible other cause is what the state relies on. They don't tell you the whole story. And that's the main thing that I was objecting about in 1990 is we weren't being told the truth. When you can't believe or depend on the health officers to protect your health, as I've said before, we're lucky - we're lucky it's only Malathion at this point. What would they do to cover up anything else to terms of agriculture or any other agenda and not tell us the whole truth?
We have a right to know the truth, and we're not being told the truth and it's being defended on the slimmest of statistical inferences that you can't prove it.
Let me here state even if we here are wrong - and I can't point it out anymore than a young man did in 1990 in a debate in San Bernardino between Dr. Kurtz and myself He got up in the question and answer period and held up a spray bottle, looked at Dr. Kurtz and said - He said, "Dr. Kurtz, I have here a mixture of Malathion and corn syrup in the same proportions of that which you are using to spray over us. May I spray you."
Dr. Kurtz said, "No." The young man said, "Well, at least I asked."
Thank you. But Doctor Karp, I would really like to ask you if you could arrange it, I think that would be terrific. Is it the National Academy of Pediatrics that you are affiliated with?
I am.
Thank you. If you could get the American Academy of Pediatrics to sponsor this type of a forum for elected officials so they have an opportunity, so the County Health Directors like Dr Feldman have an opportunity to hear both. But what happens, as Dr. Mancillas was saying, is that our tax dollars, thousands and thousands and thousands of our tax dollars, are used to put out the state position. There is never a forum for the independent doctors and scientists. And when they go into a community to spray like they did in Corona, they brought in everybody from the state and our money is paying for this.
We are open to hearing the other side, but the point is that the people that need to hear this, the people that are making the laws and making the policy decisions in this country need to hear the independent doctors and scientists. They need to hear the state's position, then they can make sound policy decisions. They have never heard the other side.
So I would welcome, if the Academy of Pediatrics could do that because that would be such a service. And I'm sure that any of these good doctors would volunteer their time to do that.
I will say speaking to the situation in Ventura County, when they sprayed in Corona - and this is for all of you elected officials, representatives. Our elected officials were told there were no significant health effects from the Malathion. And the elected officials in Corona were totally against the spraying. They spent 100,000 dollars fighting it. In Corona the CDFA believed that the problem was that the elected officials were not informed in a timely manner. So they decided that, when they went into Camarillo, or the next area, They would make sure that they would let the elected officials know before the citizens knew. And by the time that the average citizen in Ventura knew that they were going to spray Malathion, the elected officials were completely sold because they had been fed all the propaganda from the State.
The officials in Ventura, like Dr. Feldman, who are caring, concerned people, should have been able to hear this type of a forum in addition to the state forum. Then you could have made your own decision. Then you could have told the physicians in Camarillo if somebody comes in with vomiting, diarrhea, blurry vision, then the physicians would have known. In this case they don't know.
In fact, they were told it's probably not Malathion, to look for other issues. I would agree with Doctor Karp, but I would also ask - let's take cancer. This is a big red herring and a big cloud. Let's take cancer out of the potential effects of aerial spraying Malathion. What are we left with? Still high risk. Eliminate cancer from the discussion if it's unresolved. There's still enough data to suggest this is not a good idea. And as you pointed out, this is stupid, absolutely regardless of the cancer data.
We really need to move this along because - in deference to our other speakers, but we have a special guest here that has come in for this. He is somebody that's been very outspoken as far as the issue of Malathion spraying, and this is Senator Art Torres.
When I served in the Senate, I was Chair first of the Senate Toxics committee and then the Senate Committee on insurance. I believe the first step - and I'll be very brief: No. I, Thank you, doctors, for being here today; No.2, urge Senator Jack O'Connell, D-Santa Barbara, Chair of the Toxics committee in The Senate, to hold a hearing. Hold it either in Los Angeles, which would be preferable and they have the budget to do that, or hold it in Sacramento - they have the budget to do that - so the people have an informational hearing on this issue. What people fail to recognize is the cumulative effect of the air in Southern California in addition to Malathion.
And that's one of the issues that we didn't really concentrate enough on, especially sensitive populations like the children, the chronologically gifted and anyone with respiratory ailments.
It's not just Malathion. It's the combination of Malathion with everything else we have to breathe in the air in Southern California. We know what they have to breathe in Sacramento.
Keep in mind that the Department of Agriculture works for the growers. And so rather Khan calling this a controlled element, it is always called an emergency, and there's a reason for that. That means that you pay for the spraying and they don't.
You have paid as of this date with the General Fund of California from total cost through the budget year $260 million. We have helped subsidize the number one industry in California. Keep in mind we live in Los Angeles, but the number 1 industry in California is agri-business. And we've subsidized it to the tune of $260 million just for Malathion spraying, just for Malathion spraying since 1987. Since 1987.
The Department of Food and Agriculture also needs to be told and be brought to the forefront to answer questions by this Senate committee, and the Senate committee is empowered to do that.
Lastly, the hearings that we held on Malathion were very similar to the hearings we held on the cancer clusters in McFarland and in Fowler. We could never prove that children were dying of cancer related to some petroleum by-product or pesticide within that environment because it is extremely difficult to prove. Ask any widow of a firefighter who dies of cancer to prove that there was a causal relationship between exposure to toxic chemicals and exposure in the general population.
So when you look at these causal effects, we did change the law because I wrote it for firefighters and for police officers. And why is that?
As Amie Peters, who is now one of the consultants to the Senate Committee on Toxics, knows, we changed the law because it was wrong to put the burden on the widow and children to prove the causal relationship of why a firefighter or police officer died. Because why? They were usually the first people on the scene of toxic spills.
So we changed the law so the burden of proof is on the city to prove that it wasn't caused by the relationship of exposure to toxic chemicals.
So the issue that we have to concentrate on as activists and people involved in this issue is to get beyond scare tactics, to deal with the facts, and the only way you can do that is by putting Department of Food and Agriculture people under oath before Mr. Peters and Mr. O'Connell's committee and ask them Q & A on the specifics and also to work to the budget process which is ongoing as we speak. Revises will be issued May 15 to the budget of California. It will be issued again which means the language can be submitted in that budget process to make sure that Department of Food and Agriculture is accountable.
We know that many times the Director of the Food and Agriculture Department does not feel he should be accountable, which is why he resigned. But the fact of the maker is you have a power to do that, and that's the message I wanted to bring to you today, to get the legislature to hold hearings on this issue so that activists like yourself don't have to continue to pay for the expense of bringing this issue to the forefront. It is a public issue and it should be brought forth publicly.
I cannot talk to members of the Legislature about any act because the law is that once you retire from the Legislature, you cannot communicate with other members of the Legislature for a year regarding any issue. And that was to make sure that people don't use their power as a lobbyist, then go back and lobby their friends. It's a good law, but I'm saying I cannot talk to members of the Legislature and I'm not and I am urging you to do that as public citizens.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Senator Torres. I would also like to thank Patsy Shin from Senator Tom Hayden's office who is here. And if I have not recognized the specific legislator that you're representing, please let me know because it's important. This videotape is going to be mass distributed across the State of California, and we want the electorate to know just who of their elected officials care enough about this issue to have sent somebody here to represent them.
Okay. Moving right along, one of the most interesting components of this is issue is what is the damage the Medfly does and exactly what type of a danger is it to the agriculture of California? One of the most Important issues that we're going to be covering today in conjunction with the health effects - and dealing specifically with that is going to be Dr. Dahlsten. Dr. Dahlsten holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of California Berkeley. He has served as the Chair, Division of Biological Control. He has authored over 117 papers dealing with biological controls. He has been the visiting lecturer in Entomology for Yale University and served on the Forest Technology Management Exchange Team to the People's Republic of China for integrated Pest Management. As well, he has served on the integrated Pest Management in Forestry Team which visited the People's Republic in 1982: Doctor Don Dahlsten.
Well, this is going to be a bit of a change of pace after hearing all the medical effects, and I'm certainly concerned about them myself. All of my research has been with the side effects of chemical insecticides No. 1, on the environment; and No.2, working with biological controls or alternatives to chemical approaches.
But, I think I need to put this in some context because it was 1973 that I first testified in an Eradication Hearing in Seattle, Washington, or Portland, Oregon, whether or not to eradicate the gypsy moth. And as a maker of fact, my interests in eradication and invasion of exotic pests really stems from that first encounter, but I cannot believe that it is 1995 and I'm still here talking about the eradication concept which is probably one of the most crude methods of pest management in existence.
Now, I need to put this into a little bit of cultural framework. I thought about this, and the Wagners asked me, said, "Well, is the Medfly established in California? That's the title of your talk."
I said, "Yes; fine. That's easy to answer." Myself, along with a group of population biologists and a growing group of entomologists, say "Yes, it probably is." So that's the end of my talk.
But what I really wanted to do is put this in a more generic framework just to give you some idea for someone who's been frustrated by people using eradication approaches over a period of now over 20 - 20 years.
It boils down to a couple of items which John Perkins in his book "Insects: Experts in the Insecticide Crisis" refers to the humanistic approach and the naturalistic approach.
I'm not sure if I like those particular terms. I have other terms I would prefer to use, but the humanistic approach is one that humans can master the biosphere; that the biosphere can be manipulated to their own benefit.
That sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And it's also the existence of the reason why, the framework why, the philosophy why a lot of people are doing the things they do, and I'm referring specifically to pest management, although the same generality can be made to other types of activities in the environment.
The naturalistic approach: are human