Fluridone - CAS No. 59756-60-4. Local Battles.
June 30, 2005. NRC says no to controversial herbicide.
By Michael Cox. The Wellesley Townsman (Massachusetts).
 
 
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The Wellesley Townsman (Massachusetts)

June 30, 2005

NRC says no to controversial herbicide

By Michael Cox/ Townsman Staff

By a vote of 4-1 and following three public hearings on the matter, Wellelsey's Natural Resource Committee has said no to the use of the controversial herbicide fluridone to cure the ailing Morses Pond.

The decision, made June 16, comes as town officials grapple with how best to solve weed overgrowth that is strangling the popular body of water, which residents use for swimming, boating and, most importantly, their drinking water.

NRC vice-chairman Heidi Gross, who voted against the herbicide, said the decision was an easy one because it is consistent with the Integrated Pest Management Policy the NRC, School Committee and Board of Health passed two years ago. That policy prohibits the use of herbicides and pesticides on public land or public water supplies, unless there is a direct danger to human health or environmental health, and where no other viable alternatives exist.

 "This is not a solution that is acceptable to the policy," said Gross, who cited an outbreak of the West Nile virus as an instance in which the use of a pesticide would be acceptable. "These weeds in the pond are not a detriment to human health."

In addressing environmental health, Janet Bowser, director of Natural Resources Commission, said the use of a pesticide would be permissible, for example, in an instance where pests are threatening all the maple tress in town.

Bowser, who is not a voting NRC member, said that given all she knows about fluridone, and having been involved in writing the town's pest-management policy, she is opposed to using fluridone in the pond.

Ken Wagner, an environmental consultant working for the town suggested the use of fluridone as one of several potential remedies for Wellesley to consider in an attempt to get control over the rooted plants and algae infesting the pond. During a public meeting, he said that the herbicide was not a carcinogen and pointed out that the federal government has approved it for use in drinking water at twice the level he would be proposing to use it. In Morse's Pond, fluridone would be applied at eight parts per billion, or roughly a drop for the size of a swimming pool, he said.

Town officials attribute the weed and algae overgrowth in Morse's Pond to road salt, gasoline, upstream septic systems, pesticides and fertilizers that drain into the watershed. Town officials considered the fluridone option because they viewed it as a more cost-effective solution compared with the other proposals.

Yet, Gross and others were still uncomfortable with its application. The herbicide had also drawn opposition from the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project and the town's Department of Public Health. NRC member Peter DeNatale was the lone vote in favor of fluridone's use.

 "These other alternatives are more expensive, but they are not experimental and they do not impact on human health," said Gross, who noted that fluridone is only a decade old and she felt not enough information about it exists.

Gross said the NRC will now focus its attention on dredging and harvesting as options, even though it is believed that the cost for these alternatives could soar well beyond $5 million.

 Still, Gross is elated with the committee's vote.

 "I don't want to look back 10 years from on a decision that I was part of and find out some person in Wellesley is having an adverse effect because of it," she said.

 
Fluoride Action Network | Pesticide Project | 315-379-9200 | pesticides@fluoridealert.org