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Uses of Urban Pesticides and Potential Hazards to Salmon and Their Habitat

USES AND HAZARDS OF URBAN PESTICIDES (November 26, 2002)

Pesticide Active Ingredient

Common Product Names

Basins of Interest: Detection Frequency

Potential Risks to Salmon and Their Habitat

Use Sites

2,4-D (herbicide)

Weed and Feed products. Weed-B-Gone.

Puget Sound: 100%

Sacramento: 29%

• extremely toxic to salmon, especially juveniles (butoxyethyl ester form)1

• causes stress responses in sockeye salmon (butoxyethanol ester)2

• reduces rainbow trout’s ability to capture food (amine form)3

Lawns, asphalt, golf courses, schools, roadsides

Atrazine (herbicide)

Atrazine 4L Turf. Conifers

Puget Sound 67%

Willamette: > 50%

• disrupts sex hormones in female and male fish.4

• disrupts reproductive behaviors in male salmon4

Lawns, turf, golf courses

Carbaryl (insecticide)

Sevin garden insecticides. Slug, Snail and Insect Killer Bait.

Sacramento: 100%

Puget Sound: 67%

Willamette: >50%

• disrupts schooling behavior5

• kills insects, reducing food supply6

• impairs growth and reproductive success7

Ornamental ground cover, roses, shrubs, dogs and cats

Dichlobenil (herbicide)

Casoron.

Puget Sound: 100%

Willamette: >50%

• acutely toxic to fish8

• bioconcentrates in fish tissue9

• reduces fish reproductive success10.

• EPA believes urban use causes harm to salmon11

Flowers, home garden crops, home outdoor, ornamental trees, roses.

Malathion (insecticide)

50%Malathion Spray.

Home Orchard Spray

Puget Sound: 33%

Sacramento: 53%

• very highly toxic to salmon food sources12

• very highly toxic to trout and highly toxic to salmon12

• EPA believes urban use causes harm to salmon12

Home outdoor, lawn, ornamental outdoor residential.

Triclopyr (herbicide)

Brush-B-Gone.

Crossbow.

Puget Sound: 91%

Sacramento: 32%

• highly toxic to salmon and trout (butoxyethyl ester form).13

• causes erratic, disoriented swimming and rapid respiration in trout (butoxyethyl ester form) .14

Patios, turf, lawns, home outdoors, asphalt/cement

 

1. World Health Organization. 1989. 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) — Environmental aspects. Geneva, Switzlerland.

2. McBride, J.R., et al. 1981. Stress response of juvenile sockeye salmon (Onchorynchus nerka) to the butoxyethanol ester of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 27:877-884.

3. Little, E.E. 1990. Behavioral indicators of sublethal toxicity in rainbow trout. Arch.Envron.Contam. Toxicol. 19:380-385.

4. US EPA OPP EFED. 2002. Reregistration eligibility science chapter for atrazine. Environmental Fate and Effects chapter. Retrieved on Nov. 2, 2002 at: http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reregistration/atrazine/efed_redchap_22apr02.pdf

5. Weis, P. and J.S. Weis. 1974. Sevin and schooling behavior of Menidia menidia in the presence of the insecticide Sevin (carbaryl). Mar Biol. 28:261.

6. Burdick, G.E. et al. 1960. Effects of Sevin upon the aquatic environment. N.Y. Fish and Game J. 7:14-25.

7. Arunachalam, S. and S. Palanichamy. 1982. Sublethal effects of carbaryl on surfacing behavior and food utilization in the air-breathing fish, Macropodus cupanus. Physiol. Behavior 29:23-27.

8. Labat-Anderson, Inc. 1992. Dichlobenil herbicide background statement. Prepared for Bonneville Power Administration. Arlington, VA. (May 15.)

9. Freitag, D et al. 1985. Environmental hazard profile of organic chemicals. Chemosphere 14(10):1589-1616.

10. Cope, O.B. et al. 1969. Effects of dichlobenil on two fishpond environments. Weed Sci 17(2):158-165.

11. US EPA OPPTS. 1998. Dichlobenil: Reregistration eligibility decision. EPA 738-R-98-003. Retrieved on Nov. 2, 2002 at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/0263red.pdf. p. 79

12. US EPA OPP EFED. 2000. Malathion:. Reregistration eligibility Document. Environmental Fate and Effects chapter. Retrieved at on Nov. 2, 2002 at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/malathion/efedrra.pdf. pp. 58, 108. [Released Nov. 9 2000]

13. US EPA OPPTS 1998. Triclopyr. Reregistration Eligibility Decsion (RED). EPA 738-R-98-011. Retrieved on November 2, 2002 at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/2710red.pdf. pp. 41, 102.

14. Morgan, J.D. et al. 1991. Acute avoidance reactions and behavioral responses of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Garlon 4, Garlon 3A, and Vision herbicides. Environ. Contam Toxicol. 10:73-79.
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Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
PO Box 1393, Eugene OR 97440-1393 green dot Ph. 541-344-5044 green dot Fax 541-344-6923 green dot info@pesticide.org