Word: heptachlor
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Meanwhile, the insecticide barrage had been augmented by dieldrin, parathion, heptachlor, malathion and other fearful compounds many times stronger than DDT, all of which the government planned to distribute through the Department of Agriculture for public use and commercial manufacture. "The more I learned about the use of pesticides, the more appalled I became," Carson recalled. "I realized that here was the material for a book. What I discovered was that everything which meant most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important...
...Alabama, perhaps on shiploads of lumber imported from the insects' home territory in South America (the milder-mannered black fire ant had arrived, also from the Southern Hemisphere, in 1918). In the 1950s and early '60s concerned government officials tried to eradicate the insects with such powerful chemicals as heptachlor and mirex. The program was later dubbed "the Vietnam of entomology" for both its destructiveness and its futility. The poisons killed not only their targets but also most other wildlife in the treated areas. By the late '70s the pesticides were banned...
Government inspectors recently failed to pick up a major case of pesticide contamination in chickens in Arkansas. Heptachlor, a cancer-causing chemical, was banned for use in food more than a decade ago, but the EPA permits it to be sprayed on some grains. Earlier this year sorghum treated with the substance was sold as feed grain and given to the chickens. The problem was detected in routine lab tests performed by the Campbell Soup Co., which had purchased the poultry. As a result, 400,000 chickens have been destroyed in the past month...
...heptachlor case highlights another flaw in the system. USDA and FDA investigators have been unable to trace the source of the tainted seed because it changed hands -- from farmer to grain-elevator operator to feed broker to poultry producer -- so many times. Closer monitoring is necessary at every step along the food-supply chain. Federal agencies also need more flexible enforcement powers. The USDA, for example, cannot levy fines on processing plants. It can close a plant down, but that is a drastic action that is not readily employed...
...years the pesticide containing chlordane and heptachlor has been the nation's No. 1 termite killer. Last week the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Illinois-based Velsicol Chemical Corp., the sole manufacturer of the chemical cousins, had agreed to stop production. The company disputed that exposure to the pesticide, which has been linked to increased risk of cancer, is a health hazard. But Velsicol said it would stop making the compound, which under the brand name Termide is used in about 1 million U.S. homes each year, until the EPA is satisfied that it can safely be applied...