A conference sponsored by Rachel Carson Council, Inc. and
the Biology Department of George Mason University
September, 1998
George Mason University
Conference Summary: Part I
Conference Summary: Part II
Proceedings books are available for $25
Coming soon: video and audiotapes
A unique opportunity for interaction, this conference brought government scientists together with academics, students, environmentalists, and interested citizens. Internationally recognized experts discussed the impact of pesticides on wildlife and ecosystems.
The following speakers were featured:
Dr. David Pimentel presented the keynote address
David Brower was the banquet speaker
Wild animals and plants are essential elements of the healthy ecosystems on which we all depend. Therefore,
even without considering their intrinsic worth, damage to them should be of concern to all humanity. In addition,
pesticide effects on wild species predict pesticide harm for people. In this regard they serve as sentinels.
In 1995 20,000 Swainson's Hawks were killed from applications of the pesticide monocrotophos to fields in Argentina. Wild birds continue to be poisoned with diazinon, a common lawn and garden insecticide. Declines in English songbird species have been linked to widespread herbicide use. A massive Florida fish kill in 1994 was due to the application of the insecticide fenamiphos on a golf course. Researchers believe that pesticides may be contributing to the increased hind limb deformities of frogs.
Birds or fish have greater visibility than the invertebrates whose heavier losses from pesticides go largely unrecognized. Plants serving as food and habitat for animals can be eliminated by herbicides. Non-fatal pesticide exposures can alter the behavior and the reproductive capacity of a population.
Currently, pesticides are being applied at nearly twice the rate they were 35 years ago when Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. This "chemically-based paradigm for pest control" (M.L. Winston in Nature Wars), is especially threatening to wildlife. Lacking airtight shelters, protective clothing and unable to read warning signs, birds, fish and insects neither have man-made safeguards nor for the most part their own defenses against the chemical barrage.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) scientists consider pesticides to be among their more critical problems. EPA has the principal mandate, of course, and until recently the Agency has tended to give wildlife/pesticide problems less focus.
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Keynote Address: |
Wildlife, Pesticides, and People: The Relationship | Dr. Pimentel, Cornell University |
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Session One: |
Pesticides' Characteristics and Uses | Lisa Lefferts, Moderator |
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Pesticide Modes of Action | Dr. Joel Coats, ISU |
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Public Health and Non-Agricultural/Agricultural Uses | J. Marenda |
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Veterinary Medical Uses | Dr. Dennis Blodgett |
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Session Two: |
Pesticides' Fate in Various Ecosystems & Habitats | Dr. Val Beasley, Moderator |
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Pesticides Sales & Usage | Dr. Arnold Aspelin |
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Aquatic Environments | Dr. Robert Gilliom |
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The Fate of Pesticides in the Environment | Dr. Clive Edwards |
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Session Three: |
Toxicities of Pesticides for Taxa and Species |
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Birds | Dr. Pierre Mineau |
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Beneficial Insects | Dr. William Quarles |
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Fish and Amphibians | Dr. Greg Smith Dr. Carol Meteyer Dr. Jim Burkhart |
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Aquatic Invertebrates | Dr. Keith Cooper |
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Soil Organisms | Dr. Sara Wright |
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Marine Mammals | Dr. John Reif |
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Plants | Dr. Richard C. Petrie, EPA |
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Pesticides and Pollinators | Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan |
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Farm-scale Pesticide Use: Impacts on Wildlife Based on 30 Years of Monitoring |
Dr. Julie Ewald |
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Monocrotophos and Swainson's Hawks in Argentina | Dr. Mike Hooper |
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Toxicity of Pesticides to Early Life Stages of Fish | Eric A. Paul |
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Pesticides as Endocrine Disrupters | Dr. Theo Colborn |
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Incident Data on Pesticide-related Bird Mortality | Dr. Nimish Vyas |
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Effects on Non-target Insects of Pesticides Used for Gypsy Moth Control |
Dr. Linda Butler |
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Reduced Pesticide Use to Protect and Restore |
Dr. Clive Edwards |
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Pesticides and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act | Dr. Jewell Bennett |
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Pesticides and Endangered Species | Dr. Larry Turner, EPA |
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Final Session: |
Relating Effects of Pesticide Use on Wildlife to Human Health |
Dr. Theo Colborn |
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Summarizing highlights and key points | Dr. Lee Talbot |
Dedication
The Wildlife, Pesticides and People Conference was dedicated to our beloved colleague Edward Lee Rogers, Esquire, killed in an auto accident March 10, 1998, who with his wife Ailene was a Board Member of the Rachel Carson Council. Lee Rogers, a pioneering environmental lawyer, first general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund, put his environmentalist ideas into practice by becoming a leader of the nationwide movement to ban the pesticide DDT. He was devoted to environmental causes and justice and gave generously of his time, expertise and caring in helping to battle for the earth on many fronts.
Rachel Carson Council
PO Box 10779, Silver Spring, Maryland 20914
Phone: (301) 593-7507
rccouncil@aol.com
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File last modified: January 2, 2002
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