Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 18:49:24 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jack and Julie Saba Subject: Re: Insecticide question In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > -----Original Message----- > .. In any event, they want to spray with Permethrin. Does anyone out there > have a feel for this insecticide and how much it might affect insect > populations other than mosquitos? Could it have a direct impact on birds > or only indirect by affecting food sources? Fortuitously, when I got home today, this week's issue of _Science News_ was waiting, with a review of an article by Michael Alavanja of the National Cancer Institute, about prostate cancer and farmers. The research was published in the May issue of the _American Journal of Epidemiology_, and one conclusion is that permethrin is one of five chemicals (three of which, DDT and 2 related compounds, are no longer used in the U.S.) that increased the prostate cancer risk of farmers. The other non-banned chemical in this group is carbofuran. For balance, the _Science News_ article includes a comment from a researcher not associated with this study, who says the results are not fully conclusive, and more research is needed. Jack Saba -- Berwyn Heights, P.G. County jlsaba@capu.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================