Article using scare tactics to promote pesticides

Published 3:38 pm Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The article, “Hidden Pest Risks of Vacant Homes,” in the Sept. 3 Enterprise, was not labeled an advertisement, but it should have been. The article, supplied by “ARA Content” with no author credited, intends to frighten us into pouring toxic pesticides and herbicides into the soil and groundwater of our neighborhoods to combat everyday nuisances. The only person quoted is the president of a misleadingly named trade group for pesticide manufacturers and distributors. While his assertion is reasonable that a vacant house could become a respite for various bugs, rodents and weeds, the author leaps to a list of fearful diseases, rashes and scary spiders we “could” encounter as a result. He or she invokes fear by using provocative words such as “deadly,” “dangerous,” “severe,” “poisonous” and “threats” in almost every paragraph.

Ironically, having scared the reader into action, the only solution offered is to do what? Dump poison on everything!

Before we take corporate advice to soil our own nest, we should consider the health costs of this “solution.” The toxicity of most herbicides and pesticides is not well understood. Full studies are not required before they go on the market, and they are not done! We know from the DDT debacle of the 1960s that products of this type are marketed with little regard to their environmental effects.

If you haven’t yet read the classic book “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson, perhaps now is the time. The names of the chemicals have changed but the principles remain the same, as do the irresponsible marketing tactics of the poison manufacturing industry. For myself, I’m not buying the sales pitch, I’m not buying the fear and I’m definitely not buying the fouling chemical poisons these people are pushing. The Enterprise should have added the “advertisement” disclaimer to this article.

Paul Kandel

Edmonds