NPA
Press Release
02/09/2004 |
New
York Follows California to Ban Prescription
Pesticide Lindane for Lice and Scabies
NY
State proposes legislation banning the sale,
use, and prescription of lindane. Assemblyman
Harvey Weisenberg introduces bill that would
prohibit any lice or scabies treatment product
from containing the pesticide Lindane.
Contact
Information
Dan
Sheridan
National Pediculosis Assoc.
781-449-6487 x108 |
NY
(PRWEB) February 9, 2004 -- Bill
A008628 filed in the state of New York
proposes to amend the public health law to ban
the sale, use, and prescription of any product
containing the substance commonly known as
lindane, used for the treatment of lice or
scabies in humans, from containing the
pesticide.
The provision states, "Lindane is the
working ingredient in over 2 million
prescriptions for shampoos and creams meant to
control head lice and scabies and that these
prescriptions are issued to children, pregnant
women and young mothers." Lindane has been
shown to damage the liver, kidney, nervous and
immune systems of laboratory animals. It adds
that there are more effective and less toxic
ways available for the control of head lice.
Also included is reference to lindane as a man
made pesticide that has been categorized by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a
persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutant,
meaning that it lingers for a long period in the
environment, moves up the food chain and is
highly toxic to humans and wildlife. If finds
that the main source of lindane in sewers is
from treatment of head lice and scabies and that
a single treatment of lindane pollutes 6 million
gallons of water.
The bill reports lindane as a carcinogen, one
that can cause seizures or even death when
absorbed through the skin. In the past few
years, over 500 cases of adverse impacts from
lindane-containing products have been reported.
The National Pediculosis Association (NPA), a
non profit agency, directs parents, health care
professionals and child care providers to safer
head lice control options via a standardized
prevention approach focusing on routine
screening, early detection and thorough manual
removal of lice and nits.
The NPA promotes this as the rational strategy
over chasing lice with pesticides that offer
more risk than benefit and have a
well-documented history of lice resistance and
failure.
The agency says prevention isn't just about
stopping head lice. It is also about protecting
children from unnecessary and potentially
harmful exposures to pesticides such as lindane
or malathion.
The NPA emphasizes the fact that none of the
available chemical treatments are 100%
effective, and that manual removal of lice and
nits remains the most critical component to
successful treatment. Hence the slogan, "If
you don't get 'em out, you've still got 'em."
The NPA says treatment for scabies is more
challenging as it is often difficult to obtain a
definitive diagnostic workup for scabies. The
result is guesswork and therapeutic trials.
This
has included off-label use of Ivermectin, an
antibiotic indicated for cattle worms and those
who suffer with River Blindness. Ivermectin for
scabies appears too risky given the growing
number of adverse event reports related to it
use, especially among the elderly where deaths
associated with Ivermectin prompted a 1997
warning in the medical literature that it not be
used at all.
Yet despite the adverse impact of the pesticide
lindane and the availability of better options,
the use of lindane-containing shampoos and
creams continues to be permitted by
prescription.
Research conducted by the Los Angeles County
Sanitation District (LACSD) found lindane to be
particularly toxic to their water. This
realization was the impetus for what eventually
became California's state-wide ban.
Senior engineer Ann Heil was at the helm of the
LACSD research effort and found that after use,
lindane shampoos and creams and residue rinsed
off in the sink or shower made its way through
the sewer to a wastewater treatment plant.
Since lindane is not removed well in wastewater
treatment plants, it passes through to
downstream rivers, lakes or the ocean.
LACSD and the NPA received an EPA grant to join
forces to educate the community about the
hazards of lindane. The project was so
successful that the Sanitation District of Los
Angeles County, City of Los Angeles Bureau of
Sanitation, and the National Pediculosis
Association were given the nation's most honored
pollution prevention award.
The program targeted those parties who either
treat or provide advice on the treatment of lice
and scabies: doctors, hospitals, pharmacies,
school nurses, day care centers, hospitals, and
correctional institutions.
It was the first major program to convince
physicians to change the medications they
prescribe based on environmental concerns.
Average lindane concentrations dropped 50% in
the Long Beach and Burbank outreach areas within
the first year. A bill to ban the medical uses
of Lindane was passed in the California
legislature as a direct result of the Lindane
Usage Reduction Project.
The NPA says environmentalists and child
advocates alike are elated about New York's
lindane Bill, but cautions New Yorkers not to
replace one poison with another.
As soon as word of a lindane ban in California
became known, industry began positioning
malathion (an organophosphate pesticide) as
lindane's replacement for the state's formulary.
Marketing information for malathion makes it
appear that malathion is an acceptable
alternative to lindane, although the malathion
product's own information
sheet has warnings to indicate otherwise.
There
are many health and safety problems with
malathion according to National
Resources Defense Council. Jennifer Sass,
PhD, a senior scientist with NRDC and an expert
on the toxicity of malathion has written
extensively on the lack of available safety data
and malathion's own potential for serious
negative effects on human health and the
environment.
The New York Bill to ban lindane says the
chemical has been shown to be a human
carcinogen. Recent case control studies report
high rates of childhood brain cancer treated
with lindane shampoo.
It also cites several reports of six-fold
increases non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in farmers
exposed to lindane, evidence of carcinogenicity
is confirmed by the World Health Organization,
the Environmental Protection Agency and the
Department of Health and Human Services.
The Bill states that lindane is a known blood
poison. In many case reports, lindane exposure
from recommended dosages has resulted in adverse
events such as blood diseases including aplastic
anemia and leukemia.
Lindane is well known as a neurotoxin. Treatment
with lindane has resulted in vomiting, seizures,
brain damage, spontaneous abortion, learning
problems and epilepsy. Adverse effects have
resulted from recommended dosages of this
product.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates
all pharmaceutical products, lindane included.
Only recently did the FDA put a black box
warning on lindane. Up until this warning the
FDA had taken very little action to inform
patients of the acute as well as long term
effects of exposure to lindane.
The Agency For Toxic Substances and Drug
Registry ranks lindane 33 out of 275 other
substances on its Priority List of Hazardous
Substances and the Environmental Protection
Agency has severely restricted the use of
lindane as an agricultural pesticide due to
lindane`s adverse health effects.
For detailed information on lindane visit www.lindane.org
For help with obtaining non-chemical
alternatives to pesticides for head lice visit www.headlice.org
For more information on NY Bill
A008628 to ban lindane contact Assemblyman
Harvey Weisenberg's office (518)455-3042.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/2/emw103521.htm
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