The four-day testing period the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) commonly uses to determine safe levels of pesticide
exposure for humans and animals could fail to account for the
toxins' long-term effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers
report in the September edition of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry. The team found that the highly toxic pesticide
endosulfan - a neurotoxin banned in several nations but still
used extensively in U.S. agriculture - can exhibit a 'lag
effect' with the fallout from exposure not surfacing until after
direct contact has ended. Lead author Devin Jones, a recent Pitt
biological sciences graduate, conducted the experiment under
Rick Relyea, an associate professor of biological sciences in
Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences, with collaboration from Pitt
post-doctoral researcher John Hammond. The paper is available on
Pitt's Web site at www.pitt.edu/news2009/Endosulfan.pdf. The
team exposed nine species of frog and toad tadpoles to
endosulfan levels 'expected an