Alex Coolman
The use of pesticides in Orange County -- including some chemicals
considered highly toxic and carcinogenic -- increased dramatically during
the 1990s, according to a report released Wednesday by an environmental
group.
The report by Pesticide Action Network, a San Francisco nonprofit group,
is a comprehensive study of pesticide use across California, with data
broken down by region and by county.
Between 1991-98 in Orange County, the group concluded that use of a class
of pesticides known as "bad actors" increased by 51%.
The "bad actor" class of chemicals includes acute poisons, carcinogens,
reproductive or developmental toxins, neurotoxins and ground water
contaminants.
In Orange County, said Susan Kegley, a staff scientist for the group, the
most common pesticides are the fumigants methyl bromide, sulfuryl
fluoride and a soil treatment called metam sodium. All three are
considered "bad actors."
The chemical mix, indicative of an area with many homes and only limited
agriculture, "reflects what Orange County is as it becomes more
urbanized," Kegley said.
Orange County is hardly the heaviest California user of such substances.
That dubious honor was reserved for highly agricultural Kern County, in
which more than 8 million pounds of "bad actor" pesticides were used in
1998.
But Orange County has the distinction of using a good number of
particularly unhealthy pesticides.
"It's a pretty nasty set of chemicals," said Steve Orme, a data
specialist with Pesticide Action Network.
Despite what the numbers indicate, the application of pesticides is more
carefully monitored than it was in the past, said Dave Taylor, an
entomologist and safety director for the Southern California pest control
company Antimite, which has an office in Costa Mesa.
Antimite uses sulfuryl fluoride under the brand name Vikane as an
anti-termite fumigant, Taylor said. But he noted that the company's
policies have evolved considerably since the old days of "spraying
everything and letting God sort it out," he said.
"We've gotten a lot more technical in the application of treatments. We
make our standards a little higher than what might be required by the
state government, so that we have a cushion built in," Taylor said.
The potential effect of pesticide application on water quality, once a
nonissue, is now something monitored closely by Antimite, Taylor said.
"We never take any rinses [from equipment cleaning] or waste material and
pour it down the drain," because of concerns about contaminating the
