Catastrophic Effects of Wind-Drift Chemicals and Locally Sprayed Pesticides on Western Montana Fauna
Click here to see accompanying photographs.
Tordon is a combination of two herbicides, 2,4-D and picloram. In studies using estrogen-resistant mice, exposure to Tordon caused significant hormonal effects–reproductive problems and bone malformations.1, 2 Where I live in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, more people and animals are exposed to Tordon each spring than to any of the many other pesticides used. Tordon is sprayed by trucks on most county roadsides and by helicopter on large areas of forest and pasture land.
Another major source of exposure is to the chemicals carried into the valley on moist weather fronts, some from as far away as Asia. Closer drift originates from immense Idaho potato fields to the southwest and from vast wheat fields, orchards and fields of produce in Washington, Oregon and California to the west. Some days, with every breath, our bodies are treated to a virtual “chemical soup.”
One beautiful “shining mountain” morning after a front came in bringing much needed rain, I found many mice dead around our ranch, their faces swollen. Angleworms were lying dead on top of the ground by the hundreds. I noticed that larger birds like robins and black-billed magpies had trouble with their landings. My own depth perception was off, the ground looked strangely distant. I felt dizzy, listless and fell down several times doing chores. When I called on a neighbor who, like me, was sensitive to chemicals, he seemed in a fog. A few days later he was admitted to a rest home, diagnosis Alzheimer’s. He died within the month, sitting in his chair. Alzheimer’s is supposed to be a slow disease, but his came on quickly.
Well-Qualified
The Bitterroot Valley lies in the far western sector of the state, approximately midway between the northern and southern state lines. The valley with its north-flowing Bitterroot River is bounded on the west by the Bitterroot Mountain Range, with peaks to 3030 meters, and on the east by the Sapphire Range, with peaks near 2700 meters. Both ranges are forested. The valley floor, lying at about 1000 meters, is agricultural and residential, with extensive riparian vegetation along the river and its tributaries. White-tailed deer and other wildlife are abundant in the Bitterroot Valley. It is advertised as the “Last Best Place,” with clean air and clean water.
My husband Bob and I moved to the Bitterroot Valley in 1979. Our property, 37 miles south of Missoula, encompasses 100 acres of excellent wildlife habitat. I was an elementary school teacher for 12 years but retired from teaching in 1975 in order to care for wildlife. After moving to our home in the Bitterroot Valley, we built large pens for fawns and other young animals and became known as the Bitterroot Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Bob, a biologist, now retired, worked from 1965 to 1990 full time as a warden for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP), and part-time from 1990 to 2000. During the 35 years of his career, one of his duties was to clean up the accident-killed game animals, mostly white-tailed deer.
I grew up on a ranch where I began milking cows by hand at age four. Between the ages of 12 and 23, I heel-roped calves at many cattle roundups. I have had close views of thousands of domestic cattle and other domestic animals, both male and female. I have cut up hundreds of accident-killed deer, usually to feed to the carnivores we keep at the Rehabilitation Center, and have examined or cut up elk, moose and pronghorn antelope.
In short, my husband and I were well placed and well qualified to note the change in wildlife we observed in the spring and summer of 1996. Between April 11 and July 18, we observed nine male white-tailed deer, approximately one year of age, with abnormal genitalia, including no scrotum, one-half scrotum or very short scrotum, and misplacement of the organs. Up to that date, in over 35 years of working with wildlife, we had never seen a male animal with malformed genitalia.
Bone Malformations
A year before, we had begun to see bone malformations in a variety of animals including horses, various species of ungulates, birds, amphibians and other animals, which were present at birth or developed at some time during the animal’s life. The malformations in the animals mostly manifested in the jaw as overbites or underbites, crooked teeth and malocclusions, similar to those observed by Weston Price in human populations that began consuming western foods. These malformations gave the animals a grostesque, toothy look. In the ten years preceding 1995, we had observed no animal with bone malformations.
Observed malformations of head and face include prenatal prognathism (underbite), sudden onset of prognathism postnatally in developing animals, sudden onset of prognathism in adult animals, widening of the anterior of the mandible (lower jaw bone) causing diastemas (spaces) between middle incisors or between all incisors, elongation and/or widening of either right or left half of mandible, brachygnathism (overbite) and severe malformation of the maxilla (upper jaw bone) and skull, including cleft palate and/or small eye sockets in skull, with some instances of no eyes having been formed.
During a six-year period, from 1996 to 2002, I examined several hundred white-tailed deer of all ages and several individuals of other species including mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, yak, cattle, domestic sheep, domestic goats and horse foals. Most individuals of wild species of ungulate which I examined had died as a result of an accident, shot by hunters or due to illness. Domestic animals examined included both live and dead animals at local farms. Live animals received for rehabilitation included over 50 white-tailed deer fawns, six mule deer fawns, five elk calves and many bird species. In addition, I caught and examined many western toads in our yard. I also have closely observed individuals, both young and adults in my small herd of milk goats, which I keep to produce milk for young animals in my care.
In addition to the malformations I observed, individuals of both young animals and adult animals exhibited some type of aberrant tooth development. These included incomplete development of enamel resulting in transparent incisors, transparent molars or both incisors and molars being transparent; one middle incisor perpendicular to the other; crooked or malformed molars; malformed incisors; overlapping middle incisors; and diastemas between incisors, especially the two middle incisors. Other tooth problems observed included loose incisors or from one to all incisors missing (having prematurely fallen out). On animals with prognathism, the two middle incisors were often broken off to half length or less due to abnormal pressure on the teeth when browsing.
Other observed bone malformations were malformed breast bones in birds and malformations of limb bones in species of mammal, bird and western toad. Limb malformations included curvature of major limb bones, missing limbs, malformed limbs and limbs attached to the body at abnormal angles.
Malformations of Sexual Organs
The reproductive malformations that I began observing in 1996 included misplaced mamma and misplaced and malformed genitalia in many species of animals, especially ungulates. Because a large sample of accident-killed white-tailed deer was available, I began documenting reproductive malformations with measurement of each deer I examined. I also took many photos. One of three in a total of 254 male white-tailed deer exhibited ectopic (under the skin) testes due to the scrotum being misplaced and short, not formed at all or only half a scrotum present at birth. We found similar reproductive malformations exhibited by mule deer, elk, domestic sheep, domestic goats and horses which I have examined since 1996.
We subsequently enlisted the aid of Dr. Theodore H. Kerstetter, professor emeritus in biology at Humboldt University, Arcata, California and Dr. Douglas Seba, Independent Marine Scientist, Key West, Florida and published our findings in the Journal of Environmental Biology.3
While documenting the sex of all white-tailed deer fetuses and fawns each year between spring of 1996 and spring 2000, I found that there was an unusually high number of males. The most skewed sex ratio was in those fawns born in spring of 1997, 63.2 percent males to 36.8 percent females. The male/female ratio for the five-year total of 315 animals was 185 males to 130 females or 58.7 percent males to 41.3 percent females. A normal sex ratio in white-tailed deer is 110 males to 100 females. A similar problem with more males than females appears to be occurring in local sheep and goat herds.
Underbites
The most commonly observed bone malformation of the head that I have observed is an underdeveloped skull and maxilla (upper jaw bone) during development in the womb resulting in prognathism at birth. This malformation has been observed in premature fetuses exhibiting prognathism at time of death and in live or dead newborns exhibiting prognathism at time of birth. I have seen many individuals of several species with prognathism, including horse foals, a pig, and many ungulate species, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, domestic sheep, domestic goats, and domestic calves. Four mule foals were reported by their owners and not directly observed by me.
Prognathism in most newborn mammals appears to be due to the upper face, including the maxilla, being underdeveloped with a short, narrow muzzle. This results in the normally developed mandible being longer than the underdeveloped maxilla so the lower incisors are forward of the upper incisors or, on ungulates, forward of the pad at the anterior of the maxilla. In several young animals, the mandible was twisted.
In caring for these pathetic animals, I made the amazing discovery that prognathism exhibited at birth could be remedied in many individuals by administering homeopathic cell salts orally, provided that the jaw bones were not twisted or malformed. For example, prognathism was remedied in two female foals with 13 mm. and 15 mm. underbite at birth. One tablet of the homeopathic cell salt Calc. Phos. 6X and one tablet of Bioplasma (a combination of all 12 homeopathic cell salts) were administered directly into each foal’s mouth at least twice a day. Giving the cell salts resulted in the upper face developing to a normal size and length so the maxilla and mandible matched in a perfect bite. Beginning treatment immediately following birth appears to expedite the bone growth.
Several of each of the following ungulate species: white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, domestic sheep, domestic goats and domestic calves, which were born with prognathism have been remedied to a normal bite by putting the two cell salt tablets directly into the animal’s mouth at least twice a day or into their milk at each feeding.
Sudden Onset Prognathism
Prognathism can also occur after birth and during development, caused by interrupted development of the maxilla while the mandible continues to grow. I have observed the appearance of underbites in young domestic goats and in many species of post-hatchling, prefledgling birds which had normal faces and normal bites at birth or hatching. Prognathism has been observed to develop so quickly in some cases, that it appears that in addition to interrupted maxilla development, the anterior portion of the mandible may be stimulated to grow faster than normal. This observation is supported by observations of adult animals which exhibit sudden elongation of the anterior portion of the mandible forward of the molars. I refer to this phenomenon as “sudden onset prognathism.”
This post-hatching developmental malformation has been observed in many species of birds since 1995, usually prefledgling birds, by myself and other western Montana rehabilitators. The upper bill is abnormally short, resulting in the lower bill, which is of normal length, being various distances longer than the upper. In six birds I observed, all of different species, the upper bill was twisted to the side. This appears to be caused by interrupted growth of only one side of the maxilla and skull, causing the bill to twist or curve to the side. Over a thousand birds with crossed bills from areas along the west coast of Alaska have been reported to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
In spring of 2000, sudden onset prognathism occurred in five juvenile domestic goats within four days of a 3-hour inhalation exposure to herbicides 2,4-D and picloram combined (Tordon), which within hours caused diarrhea and severely swollen lymph glands. The prognathism was successfully remedied to a normal bite by twice daily treatment with cell salts for four weeks. The baby goats’ prognathism was verified by biologists and veterinarians.
In spring of 2002, swollen lymph glands, diarrhea and sudden onset prognathism were exhibited by six of my three-week-old baby goats after being exposed to the same two herbicides. Helicopters sprayed the herbicides on 700 acres south of our land. The prevailing breezes are from the south or south west.
Sudden Elongation of the Mandible
Not all sudden onset deformities responded to the homeopathic cell salts. Several adult animals have been observed to exhibit sudden elongation of the mandible forward of the molars lengthening the diastema between molars and incisors. Widening of the anterior portion of the mandible, where incisors are located, often results simultaneously with the elongation of the mandible. This usually results in diastemas between the two middle incisors or between all incisors. All animals had a normal bite at birth, and until the time severe prognathism suddenly occurred. Animals observed were of various ages and both sexes. Many more females than males have been observed to exhibit this problem.
Treatment with homeopathic cell salts had no effect. Elongated mandibles in adults can not be returned to previous normal lengths, likely because the upper face has ceased to grow in adult animals. This indicates that different mechanisms (pituitary gland tumors or other damage to pituitary gland tissue have been suggested) may be involved.
Sudden elongation of the mandible has been directly observed and documented in several adult goats two years old through thirteen years old and in one six-year-old domestic yak. Several cattle, sheep and goats which I examined appeared to have experienced sudden development of prognathism. Wear on the incisors was consistent with having a normal bite up to the time the prognathism occurred.
It is possible for differential growth of the mandible in animals which have reached maturity to be caused by excess growth hormone. Growth hormone secretion is linked to an increase in estrogen or a strengthened effect of growth hormone can be stimulated by estrogen. Sex hormones have been shown to work synergistically with growth hormone to cause growth spurts in growing animals. More than one animal in the same time period has been observed to exhibit symptoms simultaneously. Inhalation of something estrogenic in the air is a possible cause which should be investigated.
Acromegaly in Animals
Another deformity involves a widening of the anterior of the mandible, sometimes causing diastemas between the incisors and always causing the outer incisors to be several millimeters away from the upper pad on each side. Widening of the anterior of the mandible has been observed in both growing animals, particularly ungulates, and mature adults. Slight widening has been observed on animals with normal bites (middle two incisors hit the pad, other incisors are outside of pad). Severe widening of the anterior of the mandible has been observed in conjunction with sudden elongation of the mandible.
In humans, unnatural growth of lower jaw after maturity is called acromegaly and is caused by hyperfunction of the eosinophilic cells of the anterior lobe of the pituitary, resulting in excess production of growth hormone. One of the symptoms of acromegaly, teeth becoming widely separated is prevalent in many ungulates which have incurred elongation of the anterior of the mandible. These ungulates include domestic beef cattle which have been butchered for their meat, domestic sheep, domestic goats, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.
Asymmetric Deformities
A few ungulates have been observed to have experienced elongation and/or widening of just half of the anterior of the mandible, most often the right half. The symphysis mandibulae either becomes unfused or possibly was never fused on those animals which experience elongation of half of the mandible. If the elongation happens immediately prior to eruption of adult incisors, the middle incisor on the longer side grows in nearly perpendicular to the other middle incisor. This developmental malformation has been observed on white-tailed deer, domestic goats and domestic cattle. Having a perpendicular incisor prevents efficient biting, causing undernourishment.
If uneven growth of the two sides of the mandible occurs on a mammal fetus, it results in the mandible being twisted to the side at birth. This has been documented in white-tailed deer in a female fetus, a female fawn, an adult male white-tailed deer and two domestic lambs.
Overbites
Some ungulates have been observed to exhibit underdeveloped mandible at birth with the anterior portion being short, resulting in brachygnathism (overbite). Brachygnathism has been observed on two adult pronghorn antelope (shot by hunters in eastern Montana), three white tailed deer and three female goat doelings. Another doeling with brachygnathism was reported to me.
Severe brachygnathism on the goat doelings was observed present at birth and was remedied with cell salt treatment to a normal bite by time of weaning. The mandibles were stimulated to grow to match the maxilla in length causing a normal bite. It has been reported to me that brachygnathism has been observed on several domestic sheep.
Other Maformations
Other developmental malformations documented included no eyes in sockets, sockets underdeveloped, maxilla severely malformed, legs attached at odd angles, legs malformed and front or hind limbs missing or with curved bones. Many baby mammals have exhibited hyperextended joints at birth. Hyperextended joints quickly become strong and normal if Calc. Phos. 6X is administered.
One newborn angora goat and one newborn filly foal, which I observed, had no eyes in the eye sockets and the sockets were abnormally small. One female white-tailed deer fawn exhibited very small eyes.
From 1995 through 2001, human babies with malformed limbs, small head, cleft palate, and in at least one instance no eyes, have been born in western Montana. These babies were reported to me by parents, nurses and doctors but were not recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and not reported in the press.
Virgin Lactation
A health problem observed in conjunction with the sudden onset of prognathism in female goats over six months old is virgin lactation. In 2000, four 6-month-old female doelings exhibited virgin lactation after they experienced sudden onset prognathism as babies. The prognathism appeared to be caused by exposure to a combination of herbicides, including 2,4-D, which has been found to be estrogenic.
A thirteen-year-old French Alpine virgin goat, which exhibited very severe elongation and widening of her mandible simultaneously with lactation, died a sudden stroke-like death four months after the lactation and jaw problem began.
A ten-year-old Saunan milk goat began lactating in spring of 2001 without being bred. She gave approximately two quarts of milk a day during the summer. She had experienced sudden elongation of her mandible three years previous to 2001 at seven years of age. She is lactating now, summer 2002, without being bred, but does not give much milk.
A two-and-one-half-year-old Nubian doe began lactating in October of 2000 without being bred and was milked all winter and through spring, summer and fall of 2001. She began lactating at approximately the same time as the thirteen-year-old French Alpine began experiencing sudden onset prognathism and virgin lactation. This doe was bred in November of 2001 after milking had stopped and lactation had ceased. In January of 2002, her immune system overreacted to something and she nearly died. She lost her babies. Her teeth became loose and the left third incisor fell out.
Consequently, she could or would not eat very well. Her incisors were 5 mm. forward of the pad a week after she became ill. I photographed her mouth on the day she became ill, while she still had a normal bite and again a week later when she exhibited prognathism. Administration of Calc. Phos. 6X and Bioplasma as well as saline electrolytes resulted in her teeth becoming tight in the gums again and she began eating. She is now four years old and still quite thin.
Loose Incisors
As in the above described incidence, young and adult goats and cattle have been observed to suddenly exhibit loose incisors which tip toward the anterior during pressure of biting off forage. Incisors sometimes become so loose that they come out of the gums when the animal attempts to eat grass or browse.
If the affected animal is treated by giving cell salts as described, before the incisors become so loose that they come out or are knocked out, the teeth usually become tight in the gums and the animal can again eat normally.
Summary of Effects on Animals
Bone malformations, especially facial and limb malformations, are an increasing problem in domestic ungulates since 1995, including cattle, goats, sheep and a yak. I have also seen several domestic birds, many horse foals and a pig with bone malformations. During the same time period, prognathism has been observed in many individuals of wild ungulate species, including pronghorn antelope, bison, mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk.
The incidence of both brachynathism and prognathism appeared to increase significantly in ungulates born in spring of 2000 and 2001. Of ten deer fawns which I examined in 2002, both mule deer and white-tailed deer, all except three have exhibited prognathism, most mild to moderate. While these problems appear to be somewhat less severe in the young of 2002, they are still present in significant numbers in young animals which I have personally examined.
Newborns and young animals which are still growing have been successfully treated with the homeopathic cell salt, Calc. Phos. 6X, which possibly promotes calcium metabolism and bone growth. If homeopathic cell salts are administered several times a day to newborn animals which have prognathism or brachynathia, a normal bite results. With mammals this usually takes three weeks or less and with hatchling birds, three to five days. Prognathism has been successfully corrected in two female foals, a Jersey calf, six beef calves, eight domestic sheep, eight white-tailed deer fawns, one mule deer fawn, one wild elk calf, more than twenty domestic goats and dozens of birds.
I am not able to adequately explain how the cell salts are able to correct interrupted bone or feather development. Animals which are not given the cell salts continue to exhibit their respective congenital bone malformations, apparently for life. Adult animals which experience sudden elongation of the mandible, have not corrected to a normal bite after treatment with Calc. Phos. 6X.
Milk production is promoted in dairies by giving dairy cows growth hormone. Interestingly, a commonly used fungicide, Chloro-thalonil, has reportedly been shown in a scientific study to promote lactation in virgin animals. Chlorothalonil and two similar chemicals were found in a test of snow water from Ravalli County in March of 1998. Exposure to Chlorothalonil has also been shown to cause several dangerous bacteria to grow one thousand fold, including Salmonella. Salmonella has caused thousands of bird deaths locally.
Although identifying a particular cause for observations is difficult without extensive testing of the subject animals, direct observation of symptoms immediately after known exposures to chemicals or immediately after exposure to passing weather fronts would seem to be important and relevant. Ungulate species are similar enough to humans that they are used as research animals. Domestic animals and many birds with problems directly observed came from areas populated by people. There is the obvious possibility that humans, especially young children may be vulnerable to similar adverse health effects to those I have documented. That there is a connection between interrupted bone growth in young animals, including children, and osteoporosis in older people is likely.
Effects on Humans
Other more transient symptoms occur when weather fronts come into western Montana from the southwest or from the west, during the months of February through April, June and July and from October through December. Beginning January 11, 1998, I have documented occurrences of burning or irritated eyes, shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue, problems walking or flying and other symptoms of toxic exposure in humans and animals. When the wind comes from straight west, especially from mid-February through March, symptoms are slightly different and very severe, including seizures, excruciating headaches, nausea and stroke-like symptoms. Animals are uncoordinated and birds miss their landings and have a labored flight.
Some people have reported swollen limbs and swollen tongues during the same time period as they and others experience severe eye problems–severe burning and watering of the eyes, double vision and red, swollen conjunctiva. Beginning in summer of 1994 and continuing to the present, respiratory problems have been indicated by severe coughing and wheezing by people and by many species of wild and domestic animals. Respiratory impairment has a severe effect on birds since it seriously impairs their ability to fly.
Since 1994, we have had a 50 percent increase in obesity in Montana. We know that many pesticides prevent the mitochondria in the cells from working efficiently to convert glucose into energy. When this happens, sugars are stored in the fat cells instead. It is tempting to speculate that exposure to pesticides is creating overweight couch potatoes–people who cannot convert sugar into the energy they need, but who store it in their fat cells and gain weight.
Clouds of Death
In 1994, an outbreak of fungicide-resistant fungi, such as late blight in potatoes, resulted in increased use of fungicides on many crops. The fungicide Chlorothalonil began to be used extensively on potatoes, tomatoes, beans and other crops.4 While researching human deformities caused by fungicides, I came upon a reference to a problem in Ireland in the 1980s. A high incidence of deformities in human babies was linked to a fungicide used on potatoes to combat potato blight.5 Well-researched articles from The Journal of Pesticide Reform 4,6 supported my hypothesis that one or more pesticides, which agribusiness began using extensively beginning in 1994, might be wind-drifting to our area in moist air, snow and rain water.
The process I used is similar to how a detective might find a serial killer. The suspect had to be at the scene of the crimes at the time the crimes were committed, have the ability to commit the crimes and have the right method of operation. Extensive new use of antiandrogenic fungicides, including and especially Chlorothalonil, caught my attention. Chlorothalonil has over fifty aliases. Bravo and Daconil are two of the most widely used brand names.4
Weather systems which come here come off the Pacific Ocean, and across Oregon, California or Washington, three states which each use hundreds of thousands of pounds of fungicides and millions of pounds of hundreds of other pesticides.6 Some fronts come straight from the west over the mountains and into valleys like the Bitterroot Valley. Other fronts whirl in a counterclockwise direction across California, then across Utah and up, directly over Idaho, including areas where there are potato fields, and come north into the mountain valleys of the Bitterroot Mountains. This can readily be seen on nightly weather forecasts.
Some unknown factor was causing chemicals, incouding Tordon, to have a much stronger deleterious effect on living organisms than I had previously observed. Chlorothalonil became a primary suspect. It has two major accomplices, which are breakdown products. One is m-phthalodinitrile, which can cause headaches, nausea, confusion and loss of consciousness. The other is 4-hydroxy-2,4,6-trichloroisophthalonitrile, the primary metabolite of Chlorothalonil. It is about 30 times more acutely toxic than Chlorothalonil itself, is more persistent and mobile in the soil than Chlorothalonil, is found in plants, animals and, most importantly to our investigation, in soil during the breakdown of Chlorothalonil.4 Each speck of pesticide-contaminated dust that blows up from the bare potato fields and other bare fields can be carried great distances in the moist weather fronts.7
The mountains of western Montana very likely trap and concentrate pesticides carried by weather fronts and cause rain or snow to fall out of the fronts, along with the dust particles carrying many of the dozens of chemicals,8 including Chlorothalonil and its two metabolites.4 When the air cools, chemical molecules, which are heavier than air, concentrate in the mountain valleys, where they are often trapped by inversion.8
Chlorothalonil and several other pesticides were found in studies of air, fog and sea water in the Bering and Chukchi Seas off the coast of Alaska.9 Therefore, it can be proven that Chlorothalonil was at the scene of the crimes in both Alaska and western Montana.
Canadian researchers, Greg Blank and his colleagues, recently tested several pesticides and found that life-threatening bacteria, including Salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli, thrive on about one-third of the pesticides tested. Exposure to the pesticides increased bacteria numbers one-thousandfold. “The bacteria grew fastest on Chlorothalonil, linuron, permethrin and chlorpyrifos.”10
This may be the connection of wind drift pesticides to die-offs of songbirds in our area during the last six years. Dead birds, including evening grosbeak, pine siskin, common redpoll, American goldfinch and house finch, were collected by Sharon Browder, US Fish and Wildlife (USFW) biologist at the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge, and sent to the USFW Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. Laboratory tests showed that Salmonella was the cause of death. I have documented that bird die-offs often happen several days after we have a rainy period, when the moist front comes here after crossing large areas which have been sprayed with pesticides, including Chlorothalonil.
The scenario becomes more complicated, with other accomplices–pesticides that are sprayed locally in each county. Interactions of combinations of herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematocides, fumigants and so-called “inert” ingredients, and other miscellaneous pesticides which are carried by moist air masses have been implicated in widespread adverse health affects in humans, wildlife and domestic animals.11,12,13,14 This may be why life forms in each area express different symptoms or variations in symptoms.
The list of pesticides that have been shown to be endocrine disrupters, and which are used in the Bitterroot Valley, includes 2, 4-D, picloram, benzene, benzoic acid, atrazine, nonylphenols and others.11 Many pesticides have either not been tested for endocrine disruption, or they have been tested using the CD-1 mouse species, which have been bred to be genetically more resistant to endocrine disruption than other mouse strains. The CD-1 mice are thus likely more resistent to endocrine disruption than most other animals, according to geneticist Jimmy Spearow.10
In western Montana, use of organophosphate insecticides and herbicides on specialty crops increased in the 1990s. Throughout Montana, there is an increase in use of herbicides on private land and on county and state roadsides, in what is called the “War on Weeds.” I call it the “War on Babies”–the weeds are winning and the babies are losing.
A so-called “inert” ingredient in most pesticides is the surfactant nonylphenoyl and/or related chemicals. Nonylphenol is acutely toxic, strongly estrogenic, causes breast cancer cells to increase in number and is persistent in soil for nearly one year.15 It would usually be reapplied before the previous application had deteriorated.
A significant number of people are becoming increasingly sensitive to low exposures to 2,4-D and many other chemicals.16 This increasing sensitivity may be due to a combination effect of simultaneous exposure to estrogenic nonylphenols15 mixed with locally sprayed herbicides, which are also highly estrogenic, and to antiandrogenic wind drift fungicides,17 as well as to many other airborne chemicals. Simultaneous exposure to estrogenic chemicals and antiandrogenic fungicides is likely to cause serious endocrine disruption due to estrogen-dominance hormonal imbalance.
We know that estrogen-dominance hormonal imbalances in an animal result in very serious health problems, including problems with calcium utilization.12,18 We also know that many organic compounds have molecular structures that bind to receptors in the cell nucleus and disrupt a variety of hormones–sex hormones, gluco- and mineral-corticoids and vitamin D.19 Some pesticides can also react with thyroid hormones and vitamin A receptors.20 The disruption of fat-soluble activators and mineral metabolism would explain the bone deformities and malocclusions showing up in the wildlife in the Bitterroot Valley.
Rachel Carson said as long ago as 1962, in her famous book Silent Spring, that mixing fungicides and herbicides, especially the herbicide 2,4-D, was very damaging to the health of those exposed, causing paralysis and/or death in test animals. This hypothesis was investigated again in recent University of Minnesota studies which looked at the number of birth defects in human babies. These studies showed that people living in farming areas where pesticides were used in combinations had a much higher rate of birth defects than people living in forested areas where pesticide use was little to none. The studies also showed that in areas where chlorophenoxy herbicides, especially 2,4-D and/or fungicides, are in common use, the frequency of anomalies with conceptions in spring and birth in winter is significantly increased. This effect was not observed in the study for births in regions with low or no reported use of chlorophenoxy herbicides and/or fungicides.21
Three chemicals were carried to our yard by a moist weather front in March, 1998, according to our test of snowwater. How many others are carried here during peak spraying months? Strong evidence that my prime suspect, Chlorothalonil, can be carried for many hundreds of miles by moist air in weather fronts is that it was found at 0.02 parts per billion in the fog in the Bering Sea9 and at 0.03 parts per billion in the rsnowwater in the Bitterroot Valley.
Late blight fungus spores are much larger and heavier than pesticide molecules. Idaho’s 1998 late blight hotline for potato farmers stated that “late blight spores can be carried for hundreds of miles on moist weather fronts.” Many of the hundreds of pesticides sprayed in the states crossed by weather fronts before coming into western Montana would also be picked up and carried to our area and on across the continent in moisture-laden clouds,11,7,22 becoming “clouds of death.”
Sidebars
Prognathism Incidence in
Ravalli County White Tailed Deer
January 1999 – December 2001
| Dates |
Total |
Normal |
Prognathism |
Percent |
|
| 1999 | Female Fawns |
27 |
25 |
2 |
7% |
| Male Fawns |
38 |
37 |
1 |
3% |
|
| Total Fawns |
65 |
62 |
3 |
5% |
|
| Adult Females |
37 |
35 |
2 |
5% |
|
| Adult Males |
19 |
19 |
0 |
0% |
|
| Total Adults |
56 |
54 |
2 |
4% |
|
| Total Deer |
121 |
116 |
5 |
4% |
|
| 2000 | Female Fawns |
12 |
10 |
2 |
17% |
| Male Fawns |
25 |
17 |
8 |
32% |
|
| Total Fawns |
37 |
27 |
10 |
27% |
|
| Adult Females |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0% |
|
| Adult Males |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0% |
|
| Total Adults |
10 |
10 |
0 |
0% |
|
| Total Deer |
47 |
37 |
10 |
21% |
|
| 2001 | Female Fawns |
9 |
4 |
5 |
56% |
| Male Fawns |
12 |
8 |
4 |
33% |
|
| Total Fawns |
21 |
12 |
9 |
43% |
|
| Adult Females |
18 |
17 |
1 |
6% |
|
| Adult Males |
8 |
5 |
3 |
38% |
|
| Total Adults |
26 |
22 |
4 |
15% |
|
| Total Deer |
47 |
34 |
13 |
28% |
Adults = Deer over 1 year.
Official Response
When our author Judy Hoy alerted State of Montana officials to the widespread incidence of reproductive and dental abnormalities in the Bitterroot Valley, they sent a state pathologist, Mr. Keith Anne, to examine some of the deer. He told Judy that the specimans shown to him had “abnormalities.” However in his final report, he denied that the animals exhibited abnormalities. The malocclusions and deformed genitalia were due, he reported, to “some unique postmortem and traumatic injury effects. . . that could be easily misinterpreted by untrained observers.” In other words, the process of being shot or hit by a car caused the malformations.
Two letters to Hoy from Judy Martz, governor of Montana, dated January 15 and July 9, 2002, categorically deny any problem with wildlife in the Bitterroot Valley. Ignoring the fact that Hoy’s research was published in a peer-reviewed journal and backed by several well known names in the field of toxicology and endocrine disruption, the governor demanded “that credible scientists conduct the research using good scientific methodology that can withstand widespread scientific scrutiny.”
Calls for further study and examination of air quality were dismissed. “Costly scientific investigation into the cause of deformities is premature given that the scientific studies and reviews conducted to date have not clearly identified a significant cause for concern. Unfortunately a few members of the study group and yourself continue to indicate that endocrine disrupter and environmental contaminants are the cause as if that has already been determined. The State of Montana does not agree that there is any compelling evidence based on our own investigations, the Parametrix report or findings of the Wildlife Study Group to clearly implicate environmental contaminants.” [Note: These studies did no testing for environmental contaminants.]
Said the governor: “People are moving into the area to enjoy the healthy and aesthetically pleasing environment of the Bitterroot Valley.” Obviously, public knowledge of the problems in wildlife and humans would discourage the local real estate boom. Meanwhile, widespread spraying for “noxious” weeds continues in Ravalli County. According to an official report, “it is highly unlikely that the types of malformations described in the deer result from exposure to these chemicals.”
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This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2002.
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