
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991                   TAG: 9103260192
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SCIENTISTS RECOMMEND NEW PESTICIDES BANS

Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have recommended a ban on the sale of one of the most poisonous pesticides used in U.S. agriculture, and the agency said Monday that it would soon decide whether to ban the compound in the United States.

Since 1966 the pesticide, ethyl parathion, has poisoned more than 650 field workers in the United States, including at least 100 who died, according to studies by the EPA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and other state agriculture departments.

New studies by scientists at the University of California at Davis show that parathion, which is one of the insecticides most widely used in U.S. agriculture, could be a hazard to people and wildlife away from farms because it drifts in the air and can linger in fog.

There also is evidence reported by the environmental agency that residues of parathion, primarily in vegetables, raised the risk that consumers could ingest trace amounts.

- The New York Times

by CNB