The following is the unedited version of an op-ed piece which
appeared in The Journal News, Monday, June 25, 2001.

"Lessons From Birds and West Nile Virus"
by Robert Foster
CCE Legislative Director

Birds have long been recognized and valued for their ability to
perform as sentinels in the service of human endeavor. Valued for
their elevated perspective and superior visionŠyes, but even more so
for their sensitivity to environmental conditions such as deadly
gases in a coal mine or emerging diseases, like West Nile Virus
(WNV). In fact the New York State West Nile Virus Response Plan (New
York State Department of Health, 2000 & 2001) relies heavily upon the
sensitivity of birds, particularly crows, as indicators of WNV in the
environment. But sentinels, it is their nature after all, often see
more than that for which they look. Such was the case last year for
the proud regiment of avian fauna from New York State. They were
dutifully alert for WNV and found it, but what they found more, were
toxins such as pesticides.

In fact, according to New York State wildlife pathologist, Ward
Stone, pesticides killed more of the birds sent to his unit for
examination in 2000 than did WNV. Not the pesticides sprayed from
trucks into neighborhoods to control the mosquitoes feared to carry
the disease, but the more common pesticides available to consumers in
a variety of products at a variety of venues. Among the more frequent
causes of bird death were broad band insecticides from the
organophosphate category such as Dursban, diazinon and ethyl
parathion. Organophosphates, according to the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are "efficiently absorbed by
inhalation, ingestion and skin penetration" and were the class of
pesticides most often implicated in symptomatic illnesses among
people in 1996*. Some of the avian victims ate the poisoned insects
while others foraged on tainted grain.

The anticoagulant rodenticides also bear mentioning, not only for
their prowess in causing bird fatalities, but for the leap they take
taxonomically in their target pest. Rodents, like people, are
mammals, and the toxicity of rodenticides can be very similar for
rodents and people. This coupled with the placement of baits in
environments shared by humans and other mammals make rodenticides a
particular risk for accidental poisonings. Once again, the birds
either ate the doomed rodents, dooming themselves or fed on seeds and
grain laced with the poison.

Dead bird surveillance for WNV has helped illuminate the widespread
and indiscriminate use of pesticides in our society. To think that
pesticides are sophisticated to the point of relegating adverse
impacts exclusively to the target organism is tragically shallow and
inexcusable given the facts.

But for many, the quiet but profound warnings found in dead birds
will go unnoticed and unheeded without the compelling evidence of
direct human impact. For that, WNV has also provided some
illumination. In 2000, fourteen people were hospitalized in New York
State with WNV, and hundreds of people contacted health officials
with complaints of health impacts from exposure to the pesticides
used for WNV control activities carried out by local health
departments. Of these, twenty-two actually made it onto the NYS
Department of Health's Pesticide Poisoning Registry. These cases were
discovered with very little surveillance for pesticide exposure to
people, compared with the unprecedented surveillance for human cases
of WNV. This does not include the poisonings that occurred, some
never diagnosed, as a result of exposure to the same home and garden
pesticides that are killing our birds.

What if we looked for symptoms of pesticide exposure as diligently as
we look for symptoms of vector-borne diseases like WNV? Prudence and
wisdom suggest we recognize and try to benefit from the sacrifices
made by our bird sentinels. Given the daunting dead bird data, public
health policy should reflect as much concern for human pesticide
exposure as it does for diseases like WNV. Surveillance for pesticide
exposure should be given as high a priority as disease surveillance.

Let us not forget our noble sentinel birds; if they are to die in the
line of duty, they should be counted and examined. There may be much
more they have seen and much more they have to tell. The United
States Department of Agriculture has set up a dead-bird hot line for
New York State (866-537-bird) so that the birds can be counted and
their stories told.

Finally we must reduce the habitual use of pesticides. At this time
of year, while birds are nesting and raising their young, like
clockwork chemical pesticides are applied to lawns and trees in
neighborhoods throughout the state and around the country, and for
what purpose? Often for no purpose other than it is part of the
service provided by professional landscapers, or because pesticides
are ingredients of products marketed for lawn care. Before
considering the application of pesticides this growing season,
consider the message from the birds and what it may mean for human
health and the health of our natural environment, upon which we so
dearly depend.

* Reigart, J.R., Roberts, J. R., Recognition and Management of
Pesticide Poisonings, Fifth Edition, United States Environmental
Protection Agency, 1999.

http://www.citizenscampaign.org/birdsopedfoster.htm