Within the central confluence of the Great Lakes lies a state whose every drop of water trickles or gushes toward one or more of these lakes, carrying an unknown amount of pesticides.

Even when many pesticides have been shown to be ineffective, hazardous to our health, contribute to pest resistance and safer alternative pest management practices abound, chemical pesticides continue to be the plant, fungus, insect and rodent killer of choice in Michigan.

A new group, the Michigan Council for Alternatives to Pesticides (MCAP), has formed to address this unfortunate and unnecessary environmental and public health threat. In the effective footsteps of such groups as Californians for Pesticide Reform and the Maryland Pesticide Network, MCAP hopes to shed light on the havoc pesticides continue to play in the environment and in our households and schools.

MCAP would like to see far more water and food monitoring for pesticide residue and a state agency less involved in pesticide use and regulation and more focused on alternatives that do not have so many deadly after-effects.

Considering the Great Lakes watershed concerns alone, MCAP points out that they are vulnerable to long-term damage from fish kills, fish that cannot be consumed and the incremental die-off of microscopic yet important creatures of the lake bed.

Pesticides are acutely toxic to salmon and other fish, and can also cause sub-lethal effects: increased stress, altered swimming ability, disruption of schooling behavior and changes in migration.

As toxics move up the food chain, a process called bio-magnification takes place; the higher up the food ladder the toxics move-from damsel-fly to fish to human-the more potent the toxics become.

"Surely it's time to do much more in the Great Lakes area-and in our own neighborhoods where pesticides are called upon to treat lawns, parks, playgrounds and roadsides-to protect our water and ourselves from the insidious nature of chemical trespass," stated Merrill Clark, coordinator of MCAP. "Especially since sounder, less expensive and less hazardous management practices exist, it is idiocy to continue down the path with chemical pesticides."

The group has been meeting periodically with Dave Dempsey, MEC senior policy advisor in Lansing. With a formal review of the Michigan Pesticide Use Rule 637 on the docket this summer (Michigan Department of Agriculture's division of Pesticide and Plant Pest Management Division), members have decided it was a good opportunity to offer input and a broader perspective to pest management that did not rely primarily on pesticide use.

With apartment dwellers finding they cannot even find safe shelter from pesticides being applied directly on the greens while they are still walking down sidewalks to their door, many feel Michigan's chemical policy and regulation is in serious need of review and change.

For more information, contact Merrill Clark, (269) 445-8769, e-mail macmerrill@aol.com, or Dave Dempsey, (517) 487-9539, e-mail davemec@voyager.net.