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California's Prop 65 and Public Health Concerns from Maneb

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:38:53 EST

LA Testing provides analytical services to protect the public and help businesses comply with California's Proposition 65.
 
Garden Grove, CA, April 9th, 2012
 
In 1986, California voters approved an initiative to address increasing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals. That initiative, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, is better known by its original name of Proposition 65. 
 
Proposition 65 requires businesses to notify Californians about significant amounts of chemicals in the products they purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment.  This list includes maneb, a foliate fungicide, which was added to the Prop 65 list in 1990.  In 2009, it was included in a biocide ban proposed by the Swedish Chemicals Agency and approved by the European Parliament.
 
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 'Maneb was first registered in the United States in 1962 for use on food and ornamental crops to prevent crop damage in the field and to protect harvested crops from deterioration in storage or transport.  Maneb is a member of the ethylene bisdithiocarbamate (EBDC) group of fungicides, which includes the related active ingredients mancozeb and metiram.   The EBDCs share the common degradate ethylenethiourea (ETU).'  The EPA has considered aggregate risk from ETU from all sources as a part of its Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) document.
 
Maneb is not a Restricted Use Pesticide (RUP) and is used on a wide variety of food and feed crops, including fruit and nut crops, vegetable crops, field and forage crops, grapes, field crop seeds, and others; ornamental plants in nurseries and greenhouses; and sod farms.  According to a 2005 EPA document, approximately 2.5 million pounds of maneb are used annually, mostly on almonds, lettuce, peppers and walnuts.
 
'Workers who mix, load and apply maneb are at perhaps the highest risk for exposure, as are workers who re-enter these areas,' reported Joe Frasca, Senior Vice President, Marketing at LA Testing and EMSL Analytical, Inc., a network of environmental testing laboratories.  'Similar to other EBDCs and ETU, the thyroid is the target organ for maneb so minimizing human exposure is essential,' he continued.  
 
LA Testing provides analytical services for maneb and other potentially hazardous chemicals and materials.  To learn more about Proposition 65 testing services, please visit www.LATesting.com, email info@LATesting.com or call (800) 755-1794. 
 
About LA Testing and EMSL Analytical, Inc.
LA Testing and EMSL Analytical are providers of environmental testing services and products to professionals and the general public. The companies have an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations as well as state and federal regulating bodies.