Toxic chemicals used on illegal pot grows an increasing problem

Lassen National Forest, Calif. – Police and biologists are increasingly encountering an extremely toxic chemicals at illegal marijuana grows located deep in northern California’s forests.

The Atlantic reports the state has seen a surge in both legal grows and illegal large-scale, cartel-operated “trespass grows” in national forests and parks. Now, ecologists say wildlife is perishing due to an insidious side effect of the illicit grows: The lethal poisons growers use to protect their crops against “pests.”

Growers are increasingly using carbofuran, a neurotoxic insecticide that has already been banned in numerous countries, including the U.S. The toxicant is so deadly it’s used by Kenyan farmers to kill lions. Living things exposed to the chemical can experience a range of symptoms, ranging from nausea to death.

The banned poisons used by growers are meant to keep rodents and other animals from eating sugar-rich marijuana spouts, gnawing on irrigation lines and invading campsites. But once an animal is exposed to the poison, it introduces it into the food chain.

Insecticides like carbofuran–along with various other rodenticides–are increasingly showing up in wildlife necropsies.

People are finding bears, foxes, deer and other animals with chemicals from grow sites, the Atlantic reports. A Pacific Northwest study found 80 percent of barred owls sampled tested positive.

Biologists say the chemicals can even spread beyond grow sites and contaminate municipal water supplies.