Readers Write: Suburban homes filled with unseen dangers

The Island Now

My neighbor called out urgently “stay off of the lawn” as her children disembarked the school bus. Safe passage around the Belgian block border was merely a chimera. 

The air was thick with the scent of weed killer courtesy of a sprayer-toting pesticide applicator, filling the children’s lungs with noxious vapors. The indiscernible particulates accompanied them through the opened house door. 

Invisible and insidious, the pernicious air also wafted onto the bus, destined to be innocently inhaled by the unsuspecting occupants. The pesticide residue collected on the children’s exposed skin, hair, clothing, footwear, and bus seats. Their home closets, carpets, floors, and belongings all destined to become depositories for contaminants with the potential to persist for months. The pesticide applicator affixed the deceptively diminutive yellow hazard sign to the lawn and departed, assured payment for his contractual deed. 

The victims? Completely oblivious to what transpired. The potential consequences were appallingly evident to this casual observer.

Whether pre-emergent growth regulators (crabgrass prevention), herbicides (weed killers), fungicides or insecticides, all synthetic pesticides are chemical compounds designed to kill. They are biocides. 

The federal government under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with state agencies, regulates the pesticide industry. 

A common misperception is that availability connotes safety. The EPA Web site states categorically, “Laboratory studies show that pesticides can cause health problems.” Popular weed ‘n feed products commonly applied in home gardens have been linked to cancer, birth defects, nervous system disorders, kidney, liver, and eye damage. 

Organophosphates, a large group of chemicals that form the basis of many garden insecticides and herbicides, may affect brain development. Recent research at the University of Caen in France associates an ingredient in the most commonly used garden herbicide with placenta damage. 

A University of Texas professor conducting research on World War II-generation pesticide exposure suggests an epigenetic causality for today’s soaring rates of obesity, autism and mental illness. The Child Safe Playing Fields Act of New York, enacted in 2010, mandates “no school or day care shall apply pesticide to any playgrounds, turf, athletic or playing fields…[as] pesticides pose unique health risks to children.” 

In support of similar legislation, the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics presented a letter testifying, “[the] strongest links between pesticides and health effects to children involve pediatric cancer and adverse neuro-development.

However, low birth weight, pre-term birth, congenital abnormalities, cognitive deficits and asthma at times are pesticide-induced.” 

Children are protected from pesticide exposure while attending school. Perversely their parents place them at risk at home. The sea of oft-disregarded yellow signs that proliferate on community lawns from April through October confirms our casual attitude towards garden pesticides. Not so in most of Canada, where provincial ordinances have effectively banned the use of these substances in home landscapes for aesthetic purposes. Invoking the precautionary principle, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously rejected a pesticide industry appeal declaring, “There was enough evidence that lawn pesticides could be dangerous.” 

You strive for a healthy lifestyle, scrutinize food label contents, and pay a premium for organic groceries. Yet you willingly sanction the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, perhaps unwittingly exposing your family, pets and neighbors to toxic chemicals. Weeds may wilt with the wave of the applicator’s wand, but the potential health consequences may manifest when the school bus is but a cherished memory.

Barry C. Winters

East Hills

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