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Pesticides Waft into Rainforests

Researchers have a theory about what’s killing the frogs in Costa Rica’s high-altitude rainforests: pesticides used far below and miles away.

New studies show that pesticides used on coffee and banana farms in Costa Rica’s lowlands are carried by air masses up the mountainsides, where they dissolve easily into rain and fog and resettle in the country’s rainforests. There, they remain, accumulating to dangerously high levels. Pesticide levels in these areas are ten times as high as they are around the farms where they are applied, even though many of the rainforest areas are protected, natural areas.

Researchers believe this may explain why amphibian populations in the rainforests are declining, even though they are far away from any human activity. The studies imply that it’s not enough to declare an area “protected,” if in fact the threat is blowing in from miles away. It points to a need for better regulation of the chemicals themselves. And it gives those who wish to protect the rainforests one more reason to choose organic produce at the grocery store.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org