Utah Lake and forever chemicals in pesticides

One of our most important battles right now is to stop developers who want to dredge Utah Lake and create 34 artificial islands and house up to 500,000 more people on the Wasatch Front.

The developers are trying to convince people that Utah Lake is currently such a disaster that their dredging/fantasy island scheme is the only thing that can save it. On the contrary, virtually every scientist that has any expertise on an issue like this has warned it would be an ecological disaster. We found a short video on the history of Utah Lake that can help educate the public on the lake’s importance.

The video cites pesticide spraying as one of the threats to the lake’s ecology and health. As population grew closer to the lake, insects called midges were often mistaken for mosquitos and sprayed with pesticides. Midges help to control algae blooms.

UPHE is opposed to pesticide spraying conducted by mosquito abatement districts across the state for numerous reasons relating to public and environmental health. A toxic chemical group called “forever” chemicals are found in pesticides. They are so toxic because they never break down, and are associated with cancer, infertility, pregnancy complications, immunosuppression, blood vessel disorders, and numerous other diseases. The EPA, long in the pocket of the chemical industry, has recently announced that there is essentially no safe level of exposure to these chemicals.Pesticides are not just an issue when they are in our food, they are also commonly found in rainwater as well, and the air we breathe.

Scientists have concluded that our environment is so awash in dangerous chemicals, reaching every corner of the earth, even the water from rainfall is too contaminated to drink. In this study, the chemicals found in rainwater were the “forever” group, i.e. PFOA, PFOS, etc. There are literally thousands of these chemicals, and they are used in almost countless consumer goods, such as food packaging and water repellant/stain resistant fabric, and non-stick cookware. “They can spread in the atmosphere and are now found in every corner of our Earth – including rainwater, snow and even human blood.”

UPHE is meeting with the EPA later this month challenging them about approving the use of pesticides for mosquito control.

Learn more about the threats against Utah Lake here.