Response Received From Mike Rielly President of the Board Naperville Parks

Please see the below response to my email this morning. Also, please join our FB Group NON Toxic Naperville and thank you all for your support! Elizabeth, Thank you for your substantive input. I've forwarded this on to our executive director of the park district who is reviewing this matter currently. Mike Reilly 630-215-3942 Disclaimer: I'm sending this from my iPhone for speedy communication so it may be terse and have an input error ...or two! > On Jun 14, 2017, at 11:46 AM, Elizabeth Catherwood wrote: > > Good Morning, > > First, I’d like to say thank you so much for your time and respect to this matter. We truly appreciate all the hard work you do for the City of Naperville and your attention to matters in Naperville to not go unnoticed. That is why we felt it was important to bring up this matter as soon as possible to our great elected officials in the City of Naperville so we can all continue our focus on keeping the City of Naperville in the fore front of leadership in the Chicago Suburbs. > > We are asking Naperville City leaders to take a health protective approach by immediately banning these toxic pesticides and switch to proven and organic landscape methods that are cost comparable and require up to 30% less water. > > We are asking that Naperville City leaders and school district make the health of our children your priority over weed abatement. Our children should never be exposed to toxic pesticides, especially for purely cosmetic reasons. > > On March, 10, a California Superior Court judge ruled that the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) was legally in the clear to add glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer under Proposition 65. Forcing Monsanto to add a Cancer warning label to the same pesticide the City of Carlsbad is allowing to be used where our children and pets play. > > Setting aside public health considerations, is Naperville City prepared for the potential financial and legal liabilities related to allowing a known carcinogen to be applied in the city's playgrounds and parks and schools exposing the most at risk population - continued use would be an absolute disregard for health and safety at this point especially when this is to be done for purely cosmetic reasons. > > We would like to share proven, safe and cost effective options to prevent Naperville City children from any further exposure. As you know dandelions do not pose a risk to children, but 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid does. 2,4-D is one of the key ingredients in Agent Orange. > > After the World Health Organization announced glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans” and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced last March that a “positive association has been observed for non-Hodgkin lymphoma”. The OEHHA followed, and added glyphosate to the state of California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer. > > The City of Irvine, CA has successfully switched to an organically driven IPM last February and we will share the landscaping methods and products they are using. > > Additional information and resources are below to help us all solve this important health issue. Thank you so much for your time and consideration in this matter we truly respect the leaders in Naperville City and Park District for their time and forward thinking for all the families in Naperville. > > Best Regards, > Elizabeth Catherwood > > > > > > > Fertilizer > Nature Tech Fertilizer > Quantum Growth http://growquantum.com/products.aspx > KeyPlex 350 Organic http://www.keyplex.com/products/keyplex-350-orga > nic/ > Vitazine (growth stimulant) https://www.vit-a-zine.com/products2.html > Weed Abatement > Suppress EC Non selective weed control, as needed (OMRI certified Caprylic Acid and Capric Acid) > Weed Pharm University trials that prove 20% Acetic Acid is as effective as Glyphosate in killing annual and broadleaf weeds with one application > > http://www.pharmsolutionsinc.com/weedpharm.htm > > Preem (pre-emergent) “Pre-Emergent Herbicide is a soy based preemergent that provides superior control of crabgrass and other grassy, broadleaf weeds, including annual sedges. Efficacy control lasts for 6-8 weeks, much longer than corn gluten and at about half the price.” > > http://compostwerks.com/organics/organic-pest-controls/product/128090-preem-natural-pre-emergent-herbicide > > Fiesta – selective weed control In turf, as needed, (OMRI certified, chelated iron broadleaf herbicide) > Scythe > Avenger Limited effectiveness > Pest Control > Essentria IC3 Ant control > Eco Via Knock down spray > Ecoexempt/Essentria Jet Bee & Wasp control > Uncle Ian’s Gopher Bait Gopher control > Grandevo PTO Mite control/insect control, as needed > Sluggo - Snails control Snails, as needed > Neemix - insect control All insect control, as needed > > Other solutions to consider: Avenger Organic Herbicide and Weedtechnics, a company who sells a line of machines that controls weeds through saturated steam and boiling water! > > > Pesticides and disease - 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, even at infinitesimally low levels of exposure. This database has links to hundreds of studies linking pesticides to specific diseases. > > > Children are more vulnerable - The American Academy of Pediatrics says there is no safe level of pesticide exposure for children. Children are especially sensitive to pesticide exposure as they take in more pesticides relative to their body weight, are more physical in their environment and their bodies are still developing. > > EPA registration is not a safety rating - The EPA does not conduct research to determine the potential health effects of pesticides, nor does EPA consider university research into pesticide safety. The EPA merely asks pesticide manufacturers to conduct their own research and submit it. We don't have to think very hard to remember many cases where industry has failed to adequately police the safety of its products. Even substantial scientific evidence or consensus that pesticides harm human health can be disregarded by the EPA, as in the case of glyphosate, 2,4-D (Agent Orange) and chlorpyrifos. > > Pesticides drift from the application site - Pesticides can volatilize into the gaseous state and be transported over long distances fairly rapidly through wind and rain. - Texas A&M University study (Wade, T., et al. 2001. Atmospheric Deposition of PAH, PCB and Organochlorine Pesticides to Corpus Christi Bay. Texas A&M Geochemical and Environmental Research Group. Presented at the National Atmospheric Deposition Program Committee Meeting. > > “After they are applied, many pesticides volatilize into the lower atmosphere, a process that can continue for days, weeks, or months after the application, depending on the compound. In addition, pesticides can become airborne attached to wind-blown dust.” - U.S. Geological Survey report. (Majewski , M., et al. 2001. “Diazinon and Chlorpyrifos Loads in Precipitation and Urban and Agricultural Storm Runoff during January and February 2001 in the San Joaquin River Basin, California.” U.S. Geological Survey.) > > Scientific studies show that 2,4-D applied to lawns drifts and is tracked indoors where it settles in dust, air and surfaces and may remain for up to a year in carpets. (Nishioka, M., et al. 1996. “Measuring lawn transport of lawn-applied herbicide acids from turf...” Env Science Technology, 30:3313-3320; Nishioka, M., et al. 2001. “Distribution of 2,4-D in Air and on Surfaces Inside Residences...”Environmental Health Perspectives 109(11). > > Pesticides do not magically become safe after application - Pesticide residues will remain on the grass even if it is dry. While inhalation and dermal exposures are considered major routes of exposure for lawn pesticides, very few studies have been done to determine the health effects of such exposures. > > One 2014 analysis of 129 preschool children, ages 20 to 66 months, found that children were exposed to indoor concentrations of pyrethroids, organophosphates and organochlorines pesticides which were detected in soil, dust and indoor air. (Morgan, M, Wilson, N, and Chuang C. 2014. Exposures of 129 Preschool Children to Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, and Acid Herbicides at Their Homes and Daycares in North Carolina. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 11(4), 3743-3764) > > Samples from 120 Cape Cod homes, where elevated incidence of breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers are reported, find high indoor air and dust concentrations of carbaryl, permethrin, and 2,4-D. (Rudel, Ruthann, et al. 2003. “Phthalates, Alkylphenols, Pesticides, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, and Other Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in Indoor Air and Dust.” Environmental Science and Technology 37(20): 4543-4553.) > > Simultaneous exposure to multiple pesticides, multiple pesticide ingredients or other chemical can change the way we are affected by them. “Impacts from multiple chemicals may simply add up, amplify one another's effects,” - David Bellinger, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School > > “The major challenge with showing that a chemical causes cancer in humans [as opposed to animals] is that the cancer typically develops many years after exposure.” - Non Toxic Irvine advisor, Dr. Bruce Blumberg, PhD. UCI Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology, and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences > > "By allowing children to be exposed to toxins or chemicals of unknown toxicity, we are unwittingly using our children in a massive experiment," - Non Toxic Irvine advisor Bruce Lanphear, professor of health sciences, Simon Fraser University, Canada > > • Cost: Organic turf management is less expensive in the long-run and uses 30% less water. (If you need more detail you could say, “Organic landscaping builds the bio-diversity of the soil, making desired plants healthier and better able to resist incursion by weeds. It also makes the soil spongier and better able to absorb water. See http://www.grassrootsinfo.org/pdf/turfcomparisonreport.pdf) > > • Effectiveness: Harvard University has successfully used organic landscaping on its landscapes and hardscapes since 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/garden/24garden.html?_r=1 and http://www.energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/facilities-services/landscape-maintenance > > Speedzone(2,4-D) and pets: > http://thinkaboutnow.com/2017/06/studies-link-canine-cancers-to-lawn-chemicals/ > > City of Irvine 2016 IPM Report: > In April 2017, the City of Irvine published this detailed annual report on the city's IPM, which reports the total use of glyphosate, Speed Zone and other synthetic pesticides for 2016 as zero (see page 5). It reports a 5.6% increase in landscaping costs, which we think is a small price to pay when you consider the long-term benefits residents will enjoy - hospitalization and chemotherapy treatments avoided, etc. Page 3 reports on alternative practices including mechanical removal, biological controls and beneficial insects, potential use of goats in the future and habitat modification to control for certain rodents. > > 2,4-D and pets: > http://thinkaboutnow.com/2017/06/studies-link-canine-cancers-to-lawn-chemicals/