Editorials

Editorial: For Earth Day, Tell Bayer to Ban Lindane By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday April 22, 2005

The estimable San Francisco-based Pesticide Action Network (PANNA) put out a call to its world-wide environmental activist constituency on Thursday, asking them to celebrate Earth Day by telling Bayer, the massive world-wide chemical/pharmaceutical conglomerate, that a ban on the toxic pesticide Lindane is long overdue.  

The PANNA action is part of a series of international events, linking this year’s Earth Day theme—children’s health—to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Treaty). The first meeting of governments who have ratified the treaty takes place in Uruguay in early May. 

Getting rid of lindane is a cause I’ve been working on for more than 25 years, ever since I read the label on a head lice remedy that a doctor prescribed for use on my kids. I was curious about what lindane, the active ingredient, was. I did a little research, and was horrified to learn that it had been banned for use on dogs and sheep but was still being prescribed for use on human children. The article I wrote about its dangers for New West Magazine got more public response than anything I’ve written before or since. Many concerned parents handed out copies in schools around the country, and eventually, more than 20 years after I wrote the original article, states are starting to ban its use on humans. But lindane’s build-up in the environment from agricultural uses continues. 

PANNA provides a cogent summary of where the anti-lindane campaign is today: 

“Lindane has been banned for all uses in more than 50 countries. The U.S. is now the only country in North America (and one of the only industrialized countries worldwide) that continues to allow agricultural use. Canada phased out agricultural uses at the end of 2004, and Mexico has agreed to phase out all uses of lindane by the end of 2005.  

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows lindane use for seed treatment on six grain crops, where the majority is applied to corn and wheat. Bayer CropScience became the primary distributor of lindane seed treatment products in 2004, when it acquired a seed treatment company called Gustafson LLC.  

“Lindane is an organochlorine insecticide, a class of pesticides that has largely been phased out in the U.S. All of the pesticides targeted for global elimination under the POPs Treaty are organochlorines, as these chemicals tend to persist in the environment, build up in the food chain, and travel across national borders on wind and air currents.  

“Continued U.S. agricultural use of lindane contributes to the buildup of lindane in the Arctic region, where it is among the most commonly found contaminants in the environment and threatens the traditional foods and health of indigenous peoples in the region. Lindane and its breakdown products are also found in blood testing of the general population. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control reported lindane in 62 percent of the subjects sampled, with the highest body burden levels among women of childbearing age.  

“In the U.S. and Canada lindane is also used to control head lice and scabies, despite research linking it with increased risk of brain tumors in children. Children are particularly vulnerable to lindane’s toxic effects, including seizures and damage to the nervous and immune systems. Lindane is also a suspected carcinogen and hormone disruptor. When lindane is used in head lice shampoos it can contaminate urban sewer systems and pollute sources of drinking water. California banned lindane shampoos and lotions in 2002, and similar legislation is pending in New York and Illinois.” 

The Bayer corporation recently moved the global headquarters for its Bayer Biological Products division from North Carolina to Berkeley. The mayor was a prominent participant in their announcement press conference, though der Gobernator, expected to participate, was a no-show. 

PANNA’s anti-lindane campaign is directed at a different division, Bayer CropScience, which distributes the agricultural products containing lindane. They’ve asked supporters to call Esmail Zirakparvar, President and CEO of Bayer CropScience’s North American offices, in North Carolina (919-549-2000) to urge the company to stop selling lindane. That’s a long distance call, of course, and it would be easier to call Bayer’s Berkeley office (510-705-5000) or even to drop by their plant on Seventh Street with a tasteful note expressing the same sentiments. Just ask the Berkeley employees to pass the message along to their corporate colleagues in North Carolina. As biologists, they should be able to understand our concerns.