Alergies Related to Pesticides
January 1st, 2009 Posted in Organic & Chemical Pesticides
It’s bad enough that you have everything from roaches to crickets parading around your house. But even worse, when you try to get rid of them with a popular household pesticide, you could be doing more damage to yourself than to the creepy crawlers. For susceptible individuals, pesticides can trigger allergies, which come complete with a whirlwind of symptoms sure to leave you feeling like the critters aren’t worth the trouble.
In this article you’ll see:
- Common symptoms of pesticide use
- Which pesticides trigger allergies
- How to avoid them
Symptoms of Pesticides
You Wheeze & Sneeze – But WHY?
- Pesticides can enter and damage the body in three ways:
- Ingestion – eaten/swallowed
- Respiration – inhaling of fumes
- Dermal – contact with skin
- Ingredients
- There are two faces of pesticides: the Active ingredients, and the Inert ingredients. And it is the latter of the two that often goes overlooked. Inert ingredients like emulsifiers and petroleum distillates have the ability to sensitize and irritate the human body. Watery eyes, unpleasant sensations in the mucous membranes of the nose and the delicate lining of your mouth and throat are easily effected by pesticides.
- These symptoms, however common, are not the most lethal. Annoying, sure- but the Active ingredients have been known to cause very dangerous problems. In some cases, severe, acute respiratory symptoms occur and have been linked back to the active ingredients.
- Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance
- Better known as TILT. This disease is a fairly new term in the scientific world, but does help explain why many people with no prior history of allergies react negatively to pesticides. Doctors explain that the disease is split into two stages:
- The Initiation. An unknown breakdown of tolerance from prolonged use of certain chemicals
- The Trigger. Small amounts of certain daily chemicals including food, medicine, and car exhaust that combine together to form a shiny new allergen for the individual.
***Pesticides are extremely vital in the agricultural arena. Somebody’s got to save the corn from bugs! But this makes farmers especially susceptible to more lethal symptoms because of their close proximity to mass quantities of herbicides, rodenticides, fungicides, etc.
Pesticides that cause Allergies
-Check the labels. Scientists have found the following pesticidal ingredients to cause irritation among helpless (but not always nerdy) individuals:
- Barban – skin irritant, potential immunosuppressant
- Captafol – carcinogen, skin irritant, severe irritation for respiratory tract
- Allidochlor – emits toxic fumes when heated, skin and eye irritant, corrosive
- Dichloroprophen – moderately toxic, dangerous to environment
- Thiram – causes nervous system dysfunction, convulsions, difficulty breathing
- Rotenone – moderately toxic, eye irritant
- Maneb – skin sensitizer, eye and respiratory irritant, reproduction/developmental effects
- Lindane – carcinogen, effects nervous and immune system, harms brain development
Avoiding the Itch
-Unfortunately there is no specific remedy for desensitization to pesticides. So, have you been spraying and spraying (and possibly praying) for hours over these critters? Starting to get itchy eyes? Is your throat getting tighter? Are you still breathing?!
- VACATE THE PREMISES! LEAVE THE ROOM! OPEN A WINDOW! These minor symptoms will begin to subside a few minutes after the spray-athon ends. The farther away you are from the source, the better off you’ll be.
- Protective clothing. Allergies aren’t always internal. Making sure you’re covered up helps prevent skin irritation and redness. Wear gloves if you can, and even a pair of goggles to shield your eyes.
- Physicians know best. Allergies aren’t always inherited at birth. You could have developed a few along the way – and it’s possible that an ingredient in a chosen pesticide could prove disastrous for you. Take the label to your doc and get their advice.
- USE ECOSMART! Although specialists claim that there is currently no concrete evidence that allergies related to pesticides exist, why risk it? ECOSMART is an organic insecticide that is completely non-toxic, and kills bugs on contact – leaving your family, pets, and environment unharmed. Its active ingredients are natural plant oils including sesame, cinnamon and peppermint. Forget synthetic chemicals and the sneezes that come along with them. Whether they crawl, fly or bite, these bugs don’t stand a chance. Breath easy with EcoSMART.
Alyse Popp
