By Brian Cronin, Director of AquaMD

For many of us, summer is the time to wield our "green thumbs." Whether toiling in the yard, garden or flowerbed, we don't have to look very far to find our familiar nemesis: the weed.

Unfortunately, we usually rely on chemical warfare when battling these invasive and unwanted plants, grasses and weeds. Our five-gallon spray bottles of weed killer and 30-pound bags of lawn herbicides take out more than just dandelions and crab grass--they can poison our drinking water.

Herbicides may be an effective means to beautify our lawns and gardens, but the real cost often goes by unnoticed. Even the fertilizers we apply to our lawns to encourage growth are harmful, and will run off into streams, lakes and our water supplies. This can increase the nitrate and phosphorous levels drastically. Close to a billion pounds of herbicides are dumped in the United States each year--at a cost of well over $5 billion. Agricultural, industrial, commercial and governmental application accounts for about 90 percent of all herbicide use. Individual usage in homes and gardens makes up the rest. However, homeowners apply three to six times more chemicals per acre than the average agricultural user.

Health Effects of Herbicides

A national health and nutrition study conducted by the Center for Disease Control found levels of the herbicide 2,4-D in 12 percent of a sample of 1,000 adults. This common weed killer contaminates both surface and groundwater and has repeatedly been linked with non-hodgkin's lymphoma, according to medical studies conducted in the United States, Canada and Europe. A common ingredient in many lawn care products, 2,4-D is a known endocrine disruptor, and can block hormone distribution and cause glandular breakdown. It is linked to immune system damage, birth defects and reproductive issues.

The long-term health impact from herbicide and pesticide poisoning are not yet fully understood. Health experts find it very difficult to isolate all the potentially harmful contaminants that a person is exposed to over the long term.

As with the millions of pounds of commercial-grade pesticides applied every day in this country, these toxic herbicides will eventually end up in our water supply. But here's the really scary thing: due to regulatory red tape and general bureaucracy, many of these dangerous pollutants are classified as "unregulated contaminants." This means there are no national legal standards to keep them out of our drinking water. Without EPA standards, water companies are not legally required to test for a specific contaminant (Click Here for the EPA's list of unregulated water contaminants).

As most herbicides are regulated in measured in micrograms (parts per billion), these contaminants are so toxic that even tiny traces could be dangerous to your family's health. It is impossible to detect even dangerous levels of these contaminants with our senses of taste, smell or sight.