Another potentially dangerous chemical under scrutiny.

A published article in the Scientific American journal gives cause for concern.

"Are Pesticides from Plants Dangerous to Humans?

It remains unclear how the pesticides from plants known as pyrethroids affect human health."

"Chemicals derived from flowers may sound harmless, but new research raises concerns about compounds synthesized from chrysanthemums that are used in virtually every household pesticide. "

"For at least a decade, pyrethroids have been the insecticide of choice for consumers, replacing organophosphate pesticides, which are far more toxic to people and wildlife. But evidence is mounting that the switch to less-toxic pyrethroids has brought its own set of new ecological and human health risks."

"Both California and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are reevaluating the chemicals because of safety concerns. “Pyrethroids are obviously a safer alternative to organophosphates, but just because they are safer doesn’t mean they are safe,” said Dana Boyd Barr, a research professor of environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia."

"Children are more highly exposed to pyrethroids because “they spend a lot more time on the floor and have much more hand to mouth activity,” Barr said. “Pyrethroids tend to accumulate in dust or on surface areas in homes because they don’t evaporate easily into the air."

"Studies with lab animals have linked pyrethroid exposure to damage of the thyroid, liver and nervous system, as well as impairment of behavioral development, changes in the immune system and disruption of reproductive hormones, according to the 2006 EPA review. These animal studies are relevant to human health because pyrethroids act on functions of the nervous system common to all animals, according to the EPA."

While I have not as yet identified any of these chemicals in products presently used on Nitida this story does serve to show how, as research accumulates, chemicals previously thought to be relatively safe are eventually recognised as being potentially a serious risk.

The full story can be read here.