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Lawn care chemicals: how toxic are they?

The benefits of using lawn care chemicals are easy to see, but the effects they may have on your family’s health and the environment are less obvious.

By Greg Seaman Posted Jan 28, 2009

A lush, thick lawn is an ideal natural playground, as well as a practical ground cover for yards. Growing the ‘perfect’ lawn is something of a suburban quest, a neighborly challenge for some. For the rest of us it’s an obligation assigned the LPE (least possible effort) to maintain a semblance of green lawn. Either way, it’s all too easy to reach for a packaged solution – lawn care chemicals which are quite effective at killing weeds and helping establish a beautiful lawn..

Some 100 million pounds of pesticides are used by homeowners in homes and gardens each year, and concern is growing about the potential hazards associated with their use. Studies show that these hazardous lawn chemicals are drifting into our homes where they contaminate indoor air and surfaces, exposing children at levels ten times higher than preapplication levels.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a study of 9,282 people nationwide, found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person carried 13 of 23 pesticides tested.

What are lawn care chemicals?

They include more than just fertilizers. Chemicals that kill weeds, insects and a variety of diseases are sold separately and in combination with fertilizers such as ‘weed and feed’. These formulations may include organophosphates, carbamates, phenoxy and benzoic acid herbicides like 2,4 D, MCPP, and MCPA, pyrethroids and organchlorines.

Do lawn care chemicals pose a health threat to my family?

Yes. Pesticides used in controlling weeds, insects, etc., are toxic. These chemicals have been created to kill pests and most are broad-spectrum biocides. This means they are poisonous to a wide variety of living organisms, including garden plants, wildlife, pets, your neighbors, your family and you. Inert ingredients, which may comprise 50 to 99% of a pesticide formula may actually be more toxic than the active ingredients.

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked with cancer or carcinogenicity, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 15 with neurotoxicity, and 11 with disruption of the endocrine (hormonal) system. Of those same pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, 23 have the ability to leach into drinking water sources, 24 are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms vital to our ecosystem, 11 are toxic to bees, and 16 are toxic to birds.

How are we exposed to lawn care chemicals?

Poisons are absorbed through the skin, by the mouth, or by breathing sprays, dusts, or vapors. You or your children can be poisoned if you apply or are present during application of the chemical. Also if you touch contaminated grass, shoes, clothing, lawn furniture, etc., or put contaminated objects (toys, golf tees, blades of grass etc.) or fingers in the mouth.

Children and pets are at higher risk for health effects from exposure to pesticides than adults because their internal organs are still developing and maturing. Children are often more exposed to pesticides than are adults because they play or crawl on grass or floors where pesticide powders and granules normally settle. A recent government report states, until new guidelines for conducting exposure studies are developed, the EPA will not know how much exposure is associated with lawn care pesticides and associated health risks, especially for children.

Related articles:
Pesticides & Kids – why you should be concerned

Toxic chemicals found in a third of children’s toys: study

Outdoor Pesticides – are they worth the risk?

Drought Survival for Lawns

Most homes in US found to harbor lingering pesticides

Monitoring the air quality in your home

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Posted in Healthy Home Tags Chemicals, health, Lawn, Pesticides, Safety, Toxic

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