Test Your Knowledge

  Questions

1. Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.) are poisons. True/False.   answer

2. The pesticides used by lawn care companies are all government registered and safe. True/False.    answer

3. Pesticides are only toxic when swallowed. True/False.   answer

4. Can you mention at least 3 acute (short-term) toxic health effects of pesticides?   answer

5. List at least 3 chronic (long-term) toxic health effects of pesticides.   answer

6. The Poison Control Center in Quebec gets about (choose one: 10; 50; 100; 500; 1000; 5000) telephone calls about pesticide poisoning each year.   answer

7. Children whose parents use garden pesticides have a (choose one: 2; 5; 7) times higher risk of developing childhood leukemia.   answer

8. All substances mixed with pesticides have to be tested and approved before a pesticide formulation can be sold. True/False.    answer

9. The liquid used to disperse the pesticides is harmless. True/False.   answer

10. Use of the highly toxic organophosphorus insecticide is banned in Canada. True/False.   answer

11. People can get chronic health effects (such as kidney damage, or cancer) without ever having had acute effects. True/False.   answer

12. What factors increase the likelihood of people getting sick from pesticides (and other chemicals)?   answer

13. Farm workers and lawn care operators are at greatest risk of pesticide health effects. True/False.   answer

14. Many pesticides have not been tested for their cancer hazard. True/False.   answer

  Answers

1. True. As a publication by Environment Canada states: "Pesticides are poisons, or they wouldn't kill".   Back

2. A trick question! Both true and false. They are 'government registered', but this in no way implies that they are 'safe'. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (part of Health Canada) is responsible for registering pesticides. The PMRA do not have testing centers; they do a pesticide risk assessment on the information provided to them by the companies.   Back

3. False. Most pesticides are absorbed into the body by three routes: ingestion (swallowing), inhalation (breathing) and through the skin. So community members can be exposed if even one neighbour in the vicinity uses pesticides: we share the air!   Back

4. Any of these: Diarrhea, rash, fever, bronchitis, and headache. (For more, see effects of chemical pesticides on human health).   Back

5. Mental confusion, male infertility, birth defects, miscarriages, cancer, and death. (For more see effects of chemical pesticides on human health).   Back

6. More than 5000.   Back

7. Seven time higher risk.   Back

8. False. Only the 'active ingredients' in pesticides have to be tested. The 'inert formulants' mixed in are 'trade secrets'. Yet in some cases, contaminants in the formulants can be much more toxic than the active ingredients. For example, the contaminant 1, 4-Dioxane has been found in the formulant POEA which is used in Roundup, a herbicide commonly used on lawns (annual sales of $ 1 billion). This contaminant is acutely toxic to the kidneys and liver, and is classified as a probable cancer-casing agent in humans.   Back

9. False: toxic hydrocarbon solvents emulsified with water are used. Acute hydrocarbon poisoning causes nausea, cough and bronchopneumonia. Heavy ingestion can cause coma and convulsions.   Back

10. False: they are used by all the chemical lawn care companies we know of.   Back

11. True, because chronic effects can occur from repeated exposures to a chemical at lower levels than would make you acutely ill.   Back

12. The length, the amount, and the frequency of exposure. Children are the most susceptible due to their low body weight and their behaviour (thumb-sucking, etc.).   Back

13. True, workers have the greatest exposure to the risks. However, Common citizens face constant exposure from contaminants in the ground, water, and air. Due to this, as well as applications inside the home, the exposure of pregnant women, seriously ill people (especially children), we are all exposed to serious long term health problems.   Back

14. True, according to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, neither Dusban, nor Diazinon, two of the most commonly used insecticides for lawns, n'ont �t� test�s quant � leur risques de causer des cancer chez les animaux.   Back

    were tested concerning the cancer risks posed on animals.  

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