SECTION: HEALTH, Pg. F-4, CHILDREN'S HEALTH

LENGTH: 1034 words

HEADLINE: BAN ON SOME FLEA AND TICK CONTROL PRODUCTS URGED;
LONG-TERM DANGERS TO CHILDREN CITED

BYLINE: MAY ELIAN, POST-GAZETTE STAFF WRITER

BODY:


An environmental advocacy group has attacked the safety of pet flea and tick products, particularly when used around young children, and is urging consumers to use safer alternatives to control pests on their dogs and cats.

In a report this month, the Natural Resources Defense Council urges the Environmental Protection Agency to ban over-the-counter flea and tick collars, shampoos, dips and other products that contain organophosphates, whose combined and cumulative exposure on children and adults, the council claims, are much more dangerous than consumers have been led to believe.

At particular risk are toddlers, whose hand-to-mouth behaviors make it easy for toxins to be ingested, according to the report. And because children's bodies are still developing, they can be more sensitive to the effects of these pesticides than adults. But veterinary medicine, poison experts and pet product manufacturers say the defense council's message is inaccurate or overstates the dangers.

"The risk using these [flea control] products compared to the benefit is very, very low," said Dr. Edward Krenzelok, director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center at Children's Hospital, who believes the defense council misrepresented the data.

He said he has studied pesticides for 25 years and has never had a case of a child exposed to toxic levels from flea collars.

"It's very rare to be poisoned from that kind of exposure. The flea collars are not toxic and do not have any concentrations that exceed the safe levels."

Dave Deegan, EPA spokesman, said the agency has been studying the safety of these pesticides and particularly their effect on infants and children. An EPA scientific advisory panel, in fact, is scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C., in early December to review the cumulative effects of organophosphates.

The defense council report focuses on seven organophosphate insecticides, which work by blocking the breakdown of the body's messenger chemical, acetylcholine. This interferes with the transmission of nerve signals in the brains and nervous systems of insects, pets and humans alike.

According to the nonprofit defense council, which cited several studies, the pesticides can interrupt development of young children's brains and nervous systems and put them at higher risk later in life for cancer and Parkinson's disease.

The seven OPs, as they're called, are chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, phosmet, naled, tetrachlorvinphos, diazinon and malathion. One or more of these pesticides can be found in such common flea control brands as Hartz, Sergeant, Happy Jack, Alco, Americare, Unicorn and Ford's.

Citing EPA figures, the council said toddlers who pet a large dog the day it is dipped with a solution containing the OP phosmet and then put their fingers in the mouths, for example, "will receive more than 500 times the safe level of this treatment."

The defense council has zeroed in on the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act that requires the EPA to estimate the accumulated effect on people of particular pesticides used on food products, accounting not just for exposure from foods, but from all sources. The same OPs in flea control products are used on food crops to control pests.

The council claims the EPA has failed to adequately assess the risk from pet products.

"It's a very complicated science," said the EPA's Deegan. "When the law was passed, the mechanism really wasn't in place at that point to study the cumulative effect of these pesticides. There definitely has been a period where the EPA has been going through a public process coming up with methodology so these risk assessments can be done."

Among recommendations in the council's report are:

*Pet owners should seek safer alternatives to control pests. Frequent washing and combing of pets, vacuuming carpets and furniture can control mild infestations. There are also insect growth regulators, which are chemicals that stop the development of young fleas. One of these products is sold under the brand Program or there are other alternatives called Frontline or Advantage.

*Pregnant women and families with children should cease using OP-based products.

*Retailers should remove OP products from their shelves.

*The EPA should immediately ban the use of pet pesticides containing OPs.

The Veterinary Practitioners' Reporting Program for the U.S. Pharmacopeia, which collects reports on adverse events associated with veterinary products, has received no reports of toxic poisonings in human beings related to flea collars, said Dr. Kathryn Meyer, a veterinarian and program coordinator.

Dr. Robert Poppenga, a member of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania, said occasionally pets will feel adverse effects from flea collars when they are used improperly -- for instance, if a dog flea collar is put on a cat. "Cats are more sensitive than dogs."

"It's not that common to get intoxicated from the pesticides in flea collars," he said.

He agreed there are less toxic products that can be given to pets orally to control pests. He said pet owners should follow an integrated approach that might also include sweeping the carpets and brushing the animals.

Poppenga said that in general flea collars are safe on animals, but that the defense council report had some merit in pointing out potential long-range risks in children that should be studied further.

The Hartz Mountain flea and tick collars, powders, sprays, dips and repellants have contained OPs for 26 years, said William Pearlberg, Hartz spokesman. The products have withstood several safety tests conducted for the EPA. Most or their pet products contain the OP tetrachlorvinphos.

"The material we use is very safe," said Pearlberg, who questioned the accuracy of the defense council's report.

The products "are made to kill fleas and ticks that cause many illnesses for a pet. The safety of the children and animals are very important to us."

Hartz products and those of other manufacturers do carry warnings, however, that children should not play or touch flea collars or should call poison control centers if shampoos or dips are ingested.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, PHOTO: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press: Too close for comfort? Dogs; and cats wearing some commercially sold flea collars may bring children into; too-close contact with toxic pesticides called organophosphates, the Natural; Resources Defense Council claims.

LOAD-DATE: November 29, 2000