Pesticides

Today is the centenary of Rachel Carson's birth, which has been noted by many environmentalists who cherish her legacy. However, what has been little noted amid the celebrations and commemorations is the dark aspect of that legacy: that Ms. Carson's views led to the banning of pesticides at a cost of many thousands of lives worldwide. In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. He was the first non-physician to win in that category - a surprise given the nature of the celebrated discovery.

There is only one garden guru in America, and his name is Elvin McDonald. Oh, sure, he might not be as widely recognized as Martha Stewart, but McDonald has been a leading horticultural authority for nearly 50 years.So, who better to ask about the status of gardening in America?"It's great. Wonderful," says McDonald, while promoting his new book, "100 Orchids for the American Gardener" (Workman, $17.95)."One of the great blessings we have today is that the immense popularity of gardening has made competition greater: The plants and seeds are better; the magazines and books are better; some of the TV shows are better.

Adding contraceptives to prescription plans approved by HouseA bill that would require health insurers to include contraceptives in their prescription drug plans received final General Assembly approval yesterday.The bill, approved by the House of Delegates 86-44, goes to the governor to be signed or vetoed. The legislation would not require employers to offer prescription plans, but if they do, contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration would have to be included.Proponents said the measure was needed as a matter of "gender equity" because some insurers offer plans that do not treat women's contraceptive drugs and devices like other prescriptions.

pTCMileage exemption for emission tests is voted downThe Senate rejected legislation yesterday that would have exempted any vehicle driven less than 5,000 miles a year from the state's vehicle emission inspection program.The bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward J. Kasemeyer, a Howard Democrat, was defeated 18-29 after some senators expressed concerns that the measure would contribute to air pollution.Critics also said that officials would have to rely on the word of vehicle owners regarding the number of miles driven.

Parents who want to be informed before pesticides are applied in their children's schools won a qualified victory yesterday as a House of Delegates committee approved a compromise version of a notification bill.The House Environmental Affairs Committee, where such bills had died the three previous sessions, approved a consensus bill by a 12-4 vote and sent the bill to the House floor, where it received preliminary approval last night.The compromise seeks to resolve an issue that has pitted the Maryland PTA, Maryland State Teachers Association and environmentalists against local school systems and the chemical industry.

A handful of parents met with Howard County school officials and a pest control expert yesterday to learn more about the school system's use of pesticides and how students' families can be notified.Though mostly satisfied with the school system's efforts to keep chemicals away from students, some parents still were concerned about the possible effect of pesticides on sensitive children.The meeting was prompted in part by two dueling House bills before the General Assembly. One would require public schools to give parents and employees advance notice when pesticides are used.

Eight volunteer firefighters fighting a brush fire near Salisbury suffered respiratory problems yesterday when pesticides in a storage shed ignited, shooting out plumes of green and orange smoke.The firefighters from Sharptown and Mardela Springs were treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury and released, fire officials said.Sharptown Volunteer Fire Chief William White said that Jerry Matyiko was burning a dilapidated shed on land he owns along Elzey Brown Loop near Sharptown about 11 a.m. when the fire got out of control and spread to surrounding brush and trees.

Q. My wife and kids have persuaded me to give up using ZTC pesticides on our lawn and in the vegetable garden. What should I do with all the partially used containers of pesticides I've accumulated? My brother will take some of them, but they've been in our shed for three to five years and I don't know if they still work.A.Contact your city or county office of recycling or your local landfill to find out about sites for dropping off household hazardous waste.Pesticides do lose their effectiveness over time, especially when stored at very high or very low temperatures.

Highlights in Annapolis today:Senate convenes at 10 a.m., Senate chamber.House of Delegates meets at 10 a.m., House chamber.Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee hears testimony on HB 286, to require elementary schools to notify parents before pesticides are applied, 1 p.m., Room 200, Senate office building.Pub Date: 4/08/98

Chemist Laura L. McConnell of Crownsville, who studies how pesticides reach the Chesapeake Bay by air, was named Herbert L. Rothbart Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist 1997 by the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville.The research service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific agency.McConnell was honored for planning and conducting the first simultaneous measurements of air and surface-water concentrations of 20 pesticides in the bay during various seasons.

A group of environmental advocates and experts is warning that pesticide pollution from farm fields and households is contributing to the Chesapeake Bay's decline, and may well be linked to declines in frogs across the region and intersex fish seen in the Potomac River. In a report released Thursday, the group calls on federal, state and local governments to accelerate research into the threat of pesticide contamination to the bay and to step up efforts to reduce such pollution. "The thing that alarms us the most are the endocrine disruptors and the findings that have come out about intersex fish and frogs with reproductive problems," said Robert SanGeorge, director of the Pesticides and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Project.

Birds do it, bees do it. Even educated fleas do it." Cole Porter would still be looking for lyrics if he were writing this song today, because not enough bees are doing it. Pollinating, that is. In the winter of 2006, millions of honeybees began to disappear. Without them to pollinate our fruit and vegetable crops, our food supply suddenly was at risk. This huge pollination of crops doesn't happen on a bee's whim. Hundreds of thousands of hives are moved by truck around the country to farms that have paid for the visit by the millions of pollinators in those hives.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Maryland Medical Center and nearly a dozen other health care and retirement facilities are working to eliminate toxic pesticides from their pest control efforts, a move that environmental advocates say is the first like it in the country. The Maryland Pesticide Network launched the effort in 2005 after conducting a survey of pest-control products and practices in state health care facilities statewide. While the chemicals are legal and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, advocates point to studies showing that 25 of the most commonly used pesticides are harmful to animals and marine life or have links to cancer, birth defects and neurological problems.

As food prices continue to soar, consumers might find it tough to swallow premium prices for organic products. But you can save money if you're smart about buying organics. Organic means the food is produced without pesticides, chemical fertilizers or antibiotics and generally emphasizes using renewable resources and conserving soil and water. Consumers frequently buy organic food for environmental reasons and because they consider it to be more healthful. Organic produce typically costs 25 percent to 100 percent more than non-organic.

On days like yesterday and Sunday when heavy rains saturate the region, it's possible to witness the polluting of Maryland's suffering waterways. From the rivulets of clay running off construction sites in Towson to the bobbing plastic cups in the Inner Harbor, the impact is obvious enough. This may be why a recent opinion survey sponsored by the Herring Run Watershed Association and others found the public is concerned about the harmful effects of urban storm water. Runoff from the streets can be as damaging to the environment as anything that leaves a local sewage treatment plant.

Maryland is doubling its effort to kill gypsy moths, an invasive Eurasian pest that defoliated tens of thousands of acres of trees across the state last year. Airplanes are spraying pesticides on about 100,000 acres of trees in Baltimore County, Western Maryland and elsewhere. It's a $4 million project that state officials hope will beat back an egg-laying spree last year by the leaf-munching menaces. "There are a lot of gypsy moths out there, and we are trying to suppress them so people don't have to deal with them in their parks or homes," said Steve Tilley, an entomologist at the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Southeast water shortage and the California wildfires, Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea (opening today for one week at the Charles) provides a funky, terrifying and improbably funny demonstration of environmental neglect leading to ecological disaster. Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer have made a stranger-than-fiction documentary about a freshwater desert lake that turned into a salty inland sea and threatens to become a giant sewer or source of alkaline clouds.

You are not alone. Right there, in the sanctuary of your home, any number of tiny uninvited guests have set up residence, with no plans of leaving any time soon. In "A Field Guide to Household Bugs," a paperback due in stores this month from Plume Books, authors Joshua Abarbanel and Jeff Swimmer bring this disgusting reality home with 115 pages of humorous factoids and skin-crawling photographs of earwigs, silverfish and other freeloading domestic varmints. In the meantime, Abarbanel offers insights into the bug versus homeowner mismatch: What's the most common household pest included in the book?

Silence of the Songbirds By Bridget Stutchbury Walker & Company / 255 pages/ $24.95 In the steam swirling from your morning cup of java could be the ghosts of Baltimore orioles and other songbirds snuffed by the coffee industry. This haunting image is conjured by biologist Bridget Stutchbury in her new book, Silence of the Songbirds. And implicit in her picture is a message that people can take steps to stop worldwide declines in songbird populations. For example, you can get your caffeine from a beverage that doesn't require the clearing of tropical forests.

The Baltimore County Council approved last night the hiring of a company to transport Medicaid recipients to doctor's offices and other health facilities. The contract, approved unanimously, stipulates that the county will pay TransCare Maryland Inc. up to $6.81 million over five years to provide transportation via ambulances and vans to county residents who need such services. Also last night, the council voted unanimously to designate June 10 as Rachel Carson Day, in honor of the late environmental pioneer and author who studied the impact of pesticides such as DDT.