Eco-warrior Marsha Andrew called on Bermuda residents to stop misusing pesticides.

The highly toxic chemicals are ruining the environment and may be killing one of Bermuda's natural treasures, warned the North Carolina native who moved to the Island seven years ago with her Bermudian husband.

"I am concerned about the general environment. People are misusing pesticides and damaging the environment. We need to be made aware of what we are doing.'' Misuse includes over-concentrating pesticides during home preparation, using too high a dose and using them improperly.

"I suggest that people not use pesticides on hot days or windy days,'' she added.

When pesticides were sprayed on a windy day they were spread over a wide area and heat turned some of them into a poisonous gas. "Diazinon is used to kill ants but when the temperature is over 80 degrees it turns into a highly poisonous gas.

"People do not realise that they should not have children or animals nearby when they spray pesticides,'' she said.

Too many people also used whatever pesticide they could get their hands on plus a "more is better'' style of philosophy.

Instead of following label directions for preparing the poison, she added, offenders doubled and tripled its concentration making it lethal to harmless bystanders -- including lizards, frogs, toads, skinks, earthworms.

"People spray too much pesticide on an area and it seeps into the ground where it kills everything.'' Better environmental choices could be made, she said, but people needed to know about them. It was difficult, she admitted, because there were a wide variety of poisons available. Mrs. Andrew advised people to identify what problem their plants were experiencing and then choose a product to deal with that specific problem.

For instance, she continued, if a caterpillar was damaging plants, a careful check on the underside of the plant leaves would reveal the culprit who could then be removed.

If numerous pests like aphids were causing problems then a spray which dealt only with aphids could be used.

"Certain products will take care of them and not hurt anything else,'' she said.

Mrs. Andrew recommended a pesticide known as Thuricide which was environmentally safe and available locally.

"Thuricide is very safe for the environment. It can be used to kill bugs, but when something eats the dead bug it won't die. It is available at Gorham's and Aberfeldy Nursery.'' Pesticide use is believed to be having particularly harsh effects on Bermuda's toads and tree frogs, claimed Mrs. Andrew.

She has been involved with the Bermuda Toad Project almost since its inception in 1995.

The Bermuda Toad Project, under the guidance of Virginia-based professor Donald Linzey, is endeavouring to discover what is causing Bermuda's treasured whistling frog and giant toad populations to die out.

Mrs. Andrew works with Dr. Linzey of Wytheville Community College when he is on Island doing research and when he returns home she focuses her efforts on fund raising for the project.

She feels the Island-wide use of harmful pesticides is one of the major contributors to the decline in the local amphibian population.

And she pointed out that what was causing the amphibians to die could be harming humans also.

"If it kills toads and frogs, what is it doing to us? If we know what we are doing is a problem then we may realise its time to stop, wake up and do something about it.'' But she admitted that pesticides had not been identified as the culprit yet which was why further research was required. Other possibilities include global warming, heavy metal pollution or parasites.

"We need to find out what is happening to them,'' she stressed, "or there will be none left in a couple of years. The source might be something that we can't do anything about but I don't think so.'' And to conduct the research, she continued, funding was required. Every cent raised through fund raising efforts is channelled into Dr. Linzey's research.

Moneys have already been contributed by Butterfield and Vallis, Bank of Bermuda, Aberfeldy Nursery, ACE Foundation, Gorham's, Inter-Spec and Biermans.

More is needed though, added Mrs. Andrew, who can be reached at 292-3732.