(Environmental Protection Agency) has announced that
two harmful pesticides must be acknowledged for their being a detriment to the environment, malathion and chlorpyrifos.According to
The Guardian, "Almost all of the 1,700 most endangered plants and animals in the U.S. are likely to be harmed by [ these two pesticides]... Malathion, an insecticide registered for use in the U.S. since 1956,
is likely to cause harm to 97 percent of the 1,772 mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and plants listed under the Endangered Species Act."The pesticide is often used on fruit, vegetables, plants, and on pets to remove ticks. The second pesticide of chlorpyrifos, commonly used to exterminate termites, roundworms, and mosquitoes, was
found to have an equally detrimental effect on America's flora and fauna. Of the hundreds of species listed, the few that were deemed not at risk are primarily the ones that have already been classified as extinct.
EPA officials also mentioned a third pesticide, diazinon, that has a slightly lesser impact, clocking in at harmful to about 79 percent of the endangered species. In addition, the World Health Organization
announced in March of last year that malathion and diazinon are "probably carcinogenic to humans."
Perhaps most frightening about this
announcement is that the EPA is the
first agency of its kind to examine in depth the effects these chemicals have on wildlife. Even then, their results are lacking:
they fail to mention other high-profile pesticides like glyphosate that could potentially have an equally harmful effect on the environment.
Comment: Another theory:
Mystery moon swirls caused by blasts of comet gas?