Complaint to the Dept of Ag

[Marsha Cassada]

We had filed a written complaint with the Dept of Ag (state) and yesterday the representatives came out. They were very thorough and took plant samples. It is the aerial spraying of mesquites that is the culprit in our area; this is the 3rd time we have made a formal complaint.

We just spent several hundred dollars building a raised bed garden this spring. Today I had to pull up the 3 ft tall tomatoes and throw them on the compost, and start over with 6" ones. The Ag guy said the plants would bloom, but the fruit would abort. Two plants had some tomatoes on them, but he said some people were concerned about eating fruits from 24D damaged plants.

We want to be good neighbors with our farming neighbors, but it is unjust for us to live on 80 acres and not be able to plant a measly garden or grow a fruit tree because they have to spray their abused pastures.

The government farming policies in this country are contributing to the destruction of small farms; even those with 1000+ acres are barely making it.

I dont' know the answers, except that 24D needs to be banned.

The decision to complain, the zapping of our garden and ornamentals, pulling up the mutated plants--it has made me ill. Is it not enough we battle insects, fungus, wind and ice storms to simply grow food? We must battle chemical companies also.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Marsha, I cant believe you are posting this today..very strange b/c I was just going to post a ?? concerning my horses and pesticides. I awoke this AM to our local county flying very low and spraying for mosquitos...this plane was the lowest I have ever seen and the pesticide it droped was just like this white powder that completely covered the pasture WHILE 3 OF MY HORSES WERE STANDING ( well by now they were starting to scatter b/c of the plane being so low ) SMACK IN THE MIDDLE. Luckily the others were all stalled.There was a slight smell and the powder disappaited fairly quick.I brought the horses in and hosed them off real well but it really made me mad that there was nothing posted in the paper about spraying times/dates.

Is it your town that sprays or is it the neighbors spraying their fields? If I were you I'd be pretty dang upset too. Now its not even safe to grow your own food...insane. Im off to google 24D and see what its actually used for and to find out what they use here for mosquitos. Im sorry about all your plantings. Wish I had an answer for ya

 

[Bunnylady]

LittleRibbie, if the product was intended to fight mosquitoes, the powder was most likely BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis), a bacterium that is harmless to anything larger than an insect. It also comes in a granular form, also in pellets that are commonly called "mosquito dunks". You certainly should have been forewarned of the spraying, whatever the product!

Marsha, do I understand that the spraying you are complaining about is being done by private individuals on their own land? Allowing spray material to drift onto another person's property is a big no-no, I don't care how big the operation is. I know every state has their own laws regarding this, but here in NC, the owner of the plane would be facing a hefty fine, as would the guy that hired him (if different from the plane owner). If the person is a repeat offender, he could lose his pesticide applicators license, which would effectively shut him down. The chemical companies aren't to blame, they are just providing a product which is effective when used according to the label directions (which clearly state not to use on food crops!) The fault is with the applicator, who is being careless, or even criminally negligent in his application. "Not In My Back Yard" is exactly right - it shouldn't be, unless you put it there!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I don't know if the stuff they are spraying for mosquitoes will kill fish. I talked to a nurseyman today (while buying new tomatoes) and he said pesticides were sprayed behind his nursery and killed all his large, pet goldfish.

I know it is a criminal offense to let spray go off the designated property, and it is the applicator, "the one who pulls the trigger" who gets the fine. After May 1, aerial applicators must have a permit here in our county. But they don't always report the extra 24D they put in the spray. Proof is necessary for conviction. The chemical companies have a super lobby power.

We should be safe the rest of this growing season as the sesame is planted, and it is super sensitive to 24D. And next year we will keep the binoculars handy. My husband is an air traffic controller; he will be able to call the air traffic facility and find out what plane is in our area.

 

[Bunnylady]

I don't know if the stuff they are spraying for mosquitoes will kill fish. I talked to a nurseyman today (while buying new tomatoes) and he said pesticides were sprayed behind his nursery and killed all his large, pet goldfish.

Oh, boy! That's another major violation! Not only drifting onto someone else's property, but into water!

Most labels clearly state whether a product is toxic to aquatic life; if so, the label says it is not to be applied where any runoff into a body of water could occur. We are in a coastal county; the saltwater marshes are the nursery grounds for most kinds of seafood. You can bet this rule is drilled into all that attend the classes related to getting an applicators license around here. If the nurseryman knows who did this, he could get them into major hot water (I think water gets special treatment everywhere, because of Federal legislation).

 

[dgrminis]

We have fields around us that get sprayed by air and we have NEVER gotten drift over onto us. I would definetly file a complaint with the owners of the company that are doing the spraying. Here in Kansas it is windy 99.9% of the time and to spray by air you are supposed to account for the wind and drift of the chemicals and spray so it ONLY goes on the section it is supposed to... I agree I would be VERY angry if it was getting onto my property when I was not asking for it.

 

[Marty]

OK I have one for yalls too. This was in Florida also. Low flying plane crop dusting whatever he was dusing. Well he proceeded to dust all over the place including a local hay field where we and all the local stables bought our grass hay from.

So low and behold, we're all buying hay about a week or so later along with everyone else in the town not thinking a thing about it and our horses were the first to go down. And I mean down. They got the grass staggers and let me tell you they were all big horses and drunk and as stoned as could be. Falling all over themselves, couldn't balance, ramming themselves into the walls, it was insane. So the vets came and said the best thing they could do was to sedate all of them in the pastures and lay them down where they wouldn't get hurt falling into everything, because they were getting all torn up, so they did. This was a mess let me tell you. We all had to camp out with the horses that night. It was like a bunch of equine zombies when they were all waking up and started walking around. Whew! Never in my life have I witnessed anything like that before.

And then it happened to just about every horse that ate that hay and the vets were working over time. Needless to say, the culprit was that lousy crop dusting thing.

Marsha, what you are going through is just dang ridiculous when you can't even plant a garden of food. I really hope you sent copies of that letter to every representitive you have in your state and let them have it but good. I wouldn't blame you if you even called in the local media to do a story on this because this is really messing with your life!

 

[Becky]

Don't get me started on what I think about chemicals not only around our foodstuffs but also around miniature horses!

I know for a fact herbicides can and do cause fetal deformities and abortions in pregnant mares. I won't spray here, but I have neighbors that have and it's caused problems.

 

[Charlotte]

Marsha, I THOROUGHLY understand your frustration and yes, anger. We have been fighting with OG&E for all the years we have lived here over spraying with herbicides their easement on the back of our pasture. We keep this easment mowed like a lawn. We have filed letters with them, they are required to notify us before any spraying, but.......

Last summer I noticed a little redbud tree didn't look healthy. It took me about a week before i realized all the grass in the vicinity was dying. My just bred mares were all grazing out there. Once the light came on we started calling to try to find out what they had done. At first they denied any spraying but we finally got the contractor who did the work. No attempt was ever made to notify us of the intended spraying. (and this little tree was about 6 feet tall and could have been taken out with one swing of an ax! It didn't need a large area poisoned if they wanted it gone!) No attempt was ever made to contact us.

The bottom line for us was....we lost 2 foals this spring. Was the spraying the cause? Who knows, but we hadn't had any problems here for years now.

This is very frustrating and I know is not the end of the story.

I'm very sorry you have to deal with such as this too.

Charlotte