Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 6, 1992 TAG: 9201060216
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COLLEEN REDMAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BACK TO THE EARTH
THE RECENT 20,000-gallon herbicide spill in California's Sacramento River killed 40 miles of aquatic life and threatened the health, economy and environment of the people in that area.While studies across the country are beginning to question the safety of pesticides and herbicides, and to confirm their presence in our ground water, the Sacramento River incident is a reminder of another danger inherent in the widespread use of these products: accidents in their transportation. A recent U.S.A. Today story reported that toxic spills involving rail cars reached an all-time high in 1990 - up 46 percent since 1985. There was a a comparable increase in highway incidents. These spills should cause the public to ask: Who uses these products, and are they really necessary?
Even though plant growth has been controlled for centuries without the use of chemicals, electric power companies routinely spray herbicides rather than clip the overgrowth that might interfere with power lines. Even though farmers throughout time have successfuly used tilling, mulching and crop rotation to produce food, many farmers today routinely use herbicides to kill old growth in preparation for new planting or to control weeds.
Can we believe the advertisements that claim these chemical products are safe as common household products? Unfortunately, most of the information we have about herbicides comes from companies that profit from selling them. Herbicides (a type of pesticide) are big business - a $19 billion business in 1990.
More and more states are passing laws requiring lawn-care companies to post signs after spraying pesticides, to give homeowners a list of pesticides used, or to warn neighbors before they spray. Does this sound like a safe product?
Spraying herbicides inadvertently creates a "drift" that can be harmful to inhale, particularly to chemically sensitive people, pets, children, pregnant women and those already in frail health. Directions on containers of these products instruct us not to inhale them, but often we inhale them unknowingly.
Directions also instruct us not to ingest herbicide products, but herbicides, like other pesticide products, are known to find their way into sources of ground water or to evaporate and return as rainfall. (In 1986, The New York Times reported that pesticides had been found in the ground water of 23 states.)
Unfortunately, it's often discovered after the fact that drugs and chemicals cause cancer or birth defects. Why take the risk? In the case of lawn-care products, what are the actual benefits of having a perfectly green lawn?
Considering the mounting evidence that herbicides and pesticides are unsafe, we should ask: Do they even work? Scientists have long known that chemically sprayed weeds and insects eventually become resistant to the chemical being used. More and stronger products must be used to maintain previous results, creating a cycle of chemical dependency.
Do weeds really deserve so much attention or such strong measures against them? As a child, I grew up with the unspoken understanding that weeds had no apparent value. We pulled them up after a rain so that our garden vegetables could grow better.
In my adult life, I have learned, ironically, that the weeds we kill to keep our lawns manicured are often more nutritious than many of the (usually sprayed and processed) foods we buy at supermarkets!
Garden vegetables naturally grown in healthy soil are highly nutritious. So are common weeds, such as lambs quarters, chickweed, dandelion, plantain or red clover, that we hate to see in our lawn. Many weeds are also herbal foods that can be used to treat everything from anemia to bee stings.
Our increasing use of herbicides may be a sad statement of modern times. It seems that whenever we perceive something to be a problem, we seek to destroy it. And we remain easily sold on any product that comes along promising convenience - regardless of the side effects.
Certainly weeds, which are actually plants, herbs and wild flowers, are the least of the dangers we face. Maybe we should begin to make friends with weeds, to view them with gratitude rather than disdain - or at least to control them in ways that do not cause needless suffering to ourselves or our neighbors.
Colleen Redman, who lives in Floyd, is a poet, writer and jewelry-maker.