From Lisa Hill – Reno, Nv
- using an electronic public comment form by clicking this link.
- writing to the contacts below, or
- attending the meeting which starts at 10 am. Public comment starts shortly thereafter. Fill out a public comment card and give to the proctor.
The herbicide, associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a blood cancer) and sarcoma (a soft-tissue cancer), was distributed via blower specifically NOT recommended by state ag officials near private residences due to drift. One of our neighbors experienced illness after being spraying in her back yard. For some reason, spray was distributed late in the weed cycle with questionable benefit.
Hillary Schieve <schieveh@reno.gov>
Neoma Jardon <jardonn@reno.gov> ****our Ward 5 council person****
Naomi Duerr <duerrn@reno.gov> announced the pesticide-free park initiative
David Bobzien <bobziend@reno.gov> lives in our neighborhood
Jenny Brekhus <brekhusj@reno.gov>
Oscar Delgado <delgadoo@reno.gov>
Paul McKenzie <mckenziep@reno.gov>
City Liasions:
Calli Wilsey (775) 689-8459 mailto:wilseyc@reno.gov
Cynthia Esparza-Trigueros 775-677-6881; <esparzac@reno.gov>
- 06/08/2016 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
- Location: Reno City Hall, Council Chambers
One East First Street
Reno, Nevada 89501 - Public comment is held at the beginning of the meeting. If you would like to speak, fill out a form and give it to the proctor. You will have 3 minutes to speak. You can also fill out an electronic public comment form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/
d/ 1eEpdAHtoOaTWCwikmiKygeqXiliRO S_-UdYzzhgZm3o/viewform?c=0&w= 1 - Keep in mind that speaking publicly is impactful.
- The Ward 5 NAB meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month from 5:30 – 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers, located on the 1st floor of Reno City Hall, One East 1st Street.
- Public comment is held at the beginning of the meeting. If you would like to speak, fill out a form and give it to the proctor. You will have 3 minutes to speak. Keep in mind that speaking publicly is impactful. Our council person Neoma Jardon usually attends this meeting. It is smaller than a city council meeting and you will get more attention at this meeting.
2,4-D: The Most Dangerous Pesticide You’ve Never Heard Of
This toxic herbicide comes with known health risks, but it’s still being used on crops, in parks, and maybe even in your own backyard.
March 15, 2016
- Danielle Sedbrook
One of the cheapest and most common weed killers in the country has a name you’ve probably never heard: 2,4-D. Developed by Dow Chemical in the 1940s, this herbicide helped usher in the clean, green, pristine lawns of postwar America, ridding backyards everywhere of aesthetic undesirables like dandelion and white clover. But 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, as it’s known to chemists, has a less wholesome side. There’s a growing body of scientific evidence that the chemical poses a danger to both human health and the environment.
Gavin Baker Photography/Shutterstock
The pesticide, which allows not just grasses but also fruits and vegetables to flourish, can attack both the roots and leaves of weeds by making the unwanted plant’s cells grow out of control—sort of like inducing cancer in the plant to kill it or drastically slow its spread. It’s used widely in agriculture in soybean, corn, sugarcane, and wheat fields, and it turns up in most “weed and feed” products as well as in many lawn treatments. The problem is, the herbicide that was once considered clean and green may no longer be safe by today’s standards.
The evidence is slowly mounting—but not yet conclusive. It’s not always easy to determine whether a particular substance is causing harm or just happens to be present when some other agent is to blame. Public health experts can’t always draw a firm conclusion from studies whose methodologies are lacking in scientific rigor. Take the link between chronic exposure to 2,4-D and cancer: “The evidence isn’t clear enough to draw conclusions with confidence, but it is better to take precautions to prevent possible cancers than to wait for more evidence,” says Jennifer Sass, an NRDC senior scientist.
Researchers have observed apparent links between exposure to 2,4-D and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a blood cancer) and sarcoma (a soft-tissue cancer). But both of these can be caused by a number of chemicals, including dioxin, which was frequently mixed into formulations of 2,4-D until the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared 2,4-D a possible human carcinogen, based on evidence that it damages human cells and, in a number of studies, caused cancer in laboratory animals.
More conclusive is the proof that 2,4-D falls into a class of compounds called endocrine-disrupting chemicals, compounds that mimic or inhibit the body’s hormones. Laboratory studies suggest that 2,4-D can impede the normal action of estrogen, androgen, and most conclusively, thyroid hormones. Dozens of epidemiological, animal, and laboratory studies have shown a link between 2,4-D and thyroid disorders. “That’s really important when we’re thinking about development,” says Kristi Pullen, a staff scientist in NRDC’sHealth program. “Our thyroid works to ensure the proper timing and development of the brain.”
There are reports that 2,4-D can decrease fertility and raise the risk of birth defects. But even though fetuses, infants, and children are at highest risk of these, no studies have looked directly at the effects of 2,4-D on those groups.
Despite concerns about potential health risks, in 2014 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the combined use of 2,4-D and the popular weed killer Roundup (also known as glyphosate, a whole other—and in many ways more worrying—story when it comes to health and the environment). Enlist Duo, as the combo is called, was already legal in several states. It is used mainly on big farms, where it is sprayed on genetically modified crops called Enlist soy and Enlist corn that have been engineered to be resistant to the poisons.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that by 2020, the use of 2,4-D on America’s farms could rise between 100 percent and 600 percent now that it has been approved as part of Enlist Duo. According to Pullen, “When you combine increased use with the potential for increased developmental, cancer, and other health impacts, you could create a perfect storm of hazard and exposure coming together.”