QUESTION:

I have read in the "Training and Reference Guide for Pest Control" by Corky Mizer that Resmethrin is classified with other pesticides as either a known carcinogen or causes reproductive problems. I have been using Mosquito Beater fogging liquid with Resmethrin for two seasons. I have a gallon of this product remaining to be used starting next week. Should I give it to the Pesticide Control Board to get rid of it or just simply finish using the product? I plan to use only Black flag which contains pyrethrins with synergists since I am concerned about the health effects on myself and clients. What is your take on the matter?

ANSWER:

This has been an extremely contentious issue in California since 1986, when voters in that state managed to pass Proposition 65, called the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, and which now requires that all "known or SUSPECTED" carcinogens be listed and the list made available to the people of the state. Further, any person or business who releases any of these chemicals into the general environment must warn those who may be exposed, and violations of the law then permit people to SUE the one who released the material. Naturally the government of California exempted itself from this law. The author you mention owns and operates a highly respectable business in California, and therefore is quite familiar with Prop 65, and thus his mention of this product and that list.

To understand the reality of this, which we call the Prop 65 List, you must recognize that many other "chemicals" are on this list. These include beer, wine, and distilled spirits, aspirin, bracken fern, caffeic acid (in coffee), cocaine, diesel and gasoline engine exhaust, tobacco smoke, estrogen and testosterone, leather and wood dust, and a tremendous number of naturally occurring chemicals found in plants. Yes, resmethrin and many other pesticide active ingredients are on there because in a laboratory setting where massive doses were administered to lab rats or mice they managed to cause cell malformations that were then interpreted as "potentially" leading to cancer. Every grocery store in the state has a warning sign in the window at the entry doors warning shoppers that they may be exposed to carcinogens somewhere in the store.

As a VERY prominent expert on cancer and its causes has told us, you can cause problems in cells of living organisms with ANY chemical if you expose that organism to enough of the substance, and that man-made chemicals are outweighed at least 1000 times by naturally occurring substances in this area. Question - will your normal use of resmethrin in accordance with its Label cause cancer or any other health problem in humans? Answer - highly, highly unlikely. I suggest you continue to use the resmethrin you own and if it serves your purposes better than pyrethrum does you should not change products. My take on this matter, to be very honest, is that this is a highly political issue that was passed into law by scaring voters with poor science and misinformation, and that your chances of developing cancer from properly used pesticides is about equal to the risk from drinking your morning coffee and then driving to work in traffic with your arm out the window (sunshine, after all, does cause cancer).

 

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