dicamba, and atrazine. On numerous occasions the farmer has failed to contain or
manage pesticide spray drift, allowing it to move onto the family’s property and into
their home. Over the past eight years, their children have been exposed to these
chemicals. They have complained of sore throats, headaches, and burning eyes during
and after the applications. Informal conversations with the farmer failed to stop their
exposure, so they turned to the Pesticide Regulation Department in the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture. To date, the Pesticide Regulation Department has failed to take
any action to stop their exposure. Christmas tree seedlings and hardwoods have been
burned and some completely destroyed by drift.
On the morning of November 8, 2000, children arriving at Mound Elementary
School in Ventura, California, walked into a cloud of Lorsban, a pesticide containing
the active ingredient chlorpyrifos, which had drifted from a neighboring lemon or-
chard onto school property. Two children were sent home because of symptoms of
pesticide poisoning. Students and school staff complained of headaches, nausea, and
dizziness associated with pesticide exposure.
A family from Los Angeles, California, was exposed to pesticides when aerial pesti-
cide applications on a neighboring property drifted on their property. The mother
was pregnant during two applications. Their daughter has had several developmental
complications, including a partial cleft palate, constant movement of her eyes, and
the need for open-heart surgery. Their windows were open at the time of the applica-
tions. Another child in daycare with the family’s daughter has suffered similar health
problems. There is no reasoning by their doctors and no family history of drugs or
alcohol.
A schoolteacher in Sarasota, Florida, was concerned about pesticide drift from a
citrus farm and a golf course into an elementary school with more than 500 students.
She had to take medical leave from exposure to the pesticides that drifted into her
school. About forty teachers complained of health effects but were afraid of speaking
up about the exposure for fear of losing their jobs.
In August 2001, a woman in New Freedom, Pennsylvania, was driving by a home
that was being sprayed with pesticides by the ChemLawn Company. The spraying
was done on a regular basis at the home, which was by the road. The woman was al-
ready chemically sensitive from an earlier incident with two household chemicals.
The drifting lawn pesticides caused her extreme dizziness and tremors. She has been
chemically sensitive for eight years and cannot afford a lawyer.
In August 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report
about more than 230 people who became sick after malathion was sprayed aerially
during the Medfly Eradication Program, which began in Florida in 1998. A Florida
couple, the Ruys, had to move after their home was contaminated by malathion that
drifted from a citrus grove west of their property. A toxicologist, a medical toxicolo-
gist, and an immunologist recommended that the Ruys leave their home as a result
of this contamination to avoid continued exposure to neurotoxic poisons found in
their home.^20198 | Pesticides