Chlorpropham. I was surprised at the number of fruits and vegetables that are sprayed with this chemical.
Should we care?
I first heard about it in this little girl's science project.
Also known as Beet-Kleen, Bud Nip, Chloro IPC, CIPC, Furloe, Sprout Nip, Spud-Nic, Taterpex, Triherbide-CIPC and Unicrop CIPC.
Chlorpropham is a plant growth regulator used for preemergence control of grass weeds in alfalfa, lima and snap beans, blueberries, cane berries, carrots, cranberries, ladino clover, garlic, seed grass, onions, spinach, sugar beets, tomatoes, safflower, soybeans, gladioli and woody nursery stock. It is also used to inhibit potato sprouting and for sucker control in tobacco
Chlorpropham is moderately toxic by ingestion (2). It may cause irritation of the eyes or skin (2). Symptoms of poisoning in laboratory animals have included listlessness, incoordination, nose bleeds, protruding eyes, bloody tears, difficulty in breathing, prostration, inability to urinate, high fevers, and death. Autopsies of animals have shown inflammation of the stomach and intestinal lining, congestion of the brain, lungs and other organs, and degenerative changes in the kidneys and liver (2)
Chronic exposure of laboratory animals has caused retarded growth, increased liver, kidney and spleen weights, congestion of the spleen and death (2). No deaths or micropathological abnormalities occurred in rats given diets containing 2% chlorpropham for 90 days (4).
Long-term exposure to chlorpropham may cause tumors (2). In one experiment chlorpropham initiated skin cancer in mice, but this result was not confirmed by a later study (2).
Read the full report here.
~ from "A Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and University of California at Davis."
I think so.
Jeez...just one more reason to try and grow, or purchase from known vendors at the Farmer's Market, as much of our food as possible!!
ReplyDeleteThe full report is no longer available,. Do you know where we can get it and why it has disappeared?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what has happened. I went to the Cornell website and they may have taken it down.
ReplyDeletehttp://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/chlorpropham-ext.html Here it is
ReplyDeleteIt is used to control sprouting in potatoes, yes; but it is used to keep weeds from sprouting in fields where fruit and vegetables such as garlic, blueberries, and green beans are grown. After all, blueberries and green beans don't need to be kept from sprouting. If you've done much gardening, you know that this sort of thing is applied to reduce need for weeding. There might be some absorbed into the crop; but it seems to be absorbed more by the weed(grass) seedlings. It is broken down by soil microbes over time. I'd be concerned about toxicity if I were handling bags of it, or eating it by the spoonful. I'm not going to worry about it in my potatoes--and I've been an organic gardener for 25 years or so.
ReplyDeleteEveryone chooses the level of toxicity that they want to address. I choose that my family not ingest something that "reduces the need for weeding."
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