The Bolton Common
http://www2.townonline.com/bolton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=226285
April 15, 2005
Ask Dr. D.
Q: Is there a way to control the deer ticks in my yard?
A. Yes, there is an ingenious solution available, but it requires
a little explanation to fully understand it. So here goes...
The field mouse is the reservoir for the deer tick that transmits
the Lyme disease bacteria. However, if one exterminates the
field mice, they will soon be replaced with new field mice carrying
more ticks. This solution involves placing
little food stations in strategic locations in one's yard. When
the field mouse enters the station for a "free lunch,"
it is coated with an environmentally-friendly compound called
fipronil, which kills the ticks. Fipronil is also the
active ingredient in a popular flea and tick product called
Frontline Top Spot. For more information on this product contact
Griggs and Browne at 800-649-9992. For field mice anyway, this
product disproves the old adage, "There is no such thing
as a free lunch."
Dr. D. (William Damitz) is co-owner of Harvard Veterinary
Clinic on Ayer Road and a resident of Bolton. His answers are
specific to the way he would handle the question asked in his
practice, and pertain to animals, not people. If you have questions
about your pet's health or behavior, send them to Dr. D. in
care of the Harvard Post or Bolton Common.
Response from FAN Pesticide
Project
Submitted to paper (via email) April
17, 2005 - not published
Dr. D. stated that the pesticide fipronil was an “environmentally-friendly”
compound and could be placed “in strategic locations in
one’s yard” to help control deer tick (April 15,
“Ask Dr. D.”, The Bolton Common).
Fipronil is not environmentally-friendly. It is highly toxic
to bees, lizards, gallinaceous birds, rainbow trout, bluegill
sunfish, and to freshwater aquatic invertebrates.
In 1995, EPA classified Fipronil as a “Possible Human
Carcinogen” based on increases in thyroid tumors in both
sexes of the rat, which were statistically significant by both
pair-wise and trend analyses.
Even with this classification, EPA approved its use in 1997
on an experimental basis for use on rice seed; and in July 1998
they gave it their final approval. Farmers began buying it in
March 1999 and used it in Louisiana rice paddies where, for
part of the year, crawfish are bred.
In January 2000, a class action suit was launched by the Louisiana
crawfish farmers for the significant mortality of their crawfish
due to the pesticide ICON (Fipronil) and its degradates. The
crawfish farmers alleged that the pesticide devastated Louisiana's
2000 and 2001 crawfish crop. In March 2004, the farmers won
their class action with a $45 million settlement. This settlement
precludes them from future lawsuits based on human health effects.
In animal studies, fipronil induced other significant adverse
health effects, aside from cancerous thyroid tumors.
Parents should be aware that this pesticide, while approved
for use by the EPA, might not be advisable for them to use on
their property to protect their family from deer-ticks. For
more information see http://www.fluorideaction.org/pesticides/epage.fipronil.effects.htm
The use of the term “environmentally-friendly”
for chemical poisons is never appropriate.
Ellen Connett
Director,
Fluoride Action Network Pesticide Project
82 Judson Street
Canton NY 13617
See also: May
18, 2005
- Tick
box plan kicked out of Nahanton. By
Karla Hailer-Fidelman. Newton TAB (MA)
