MUNCIE — Organic grocer Dave Ring got sprayed by a cloud of agricultural weed killer (brand name Shredder) while walking through the yard of his rural Delaware County residence on May 28, 2015.
The same month, Danny Sollars, a forklift operator at a Hartford City factory, was working in the front yard of his rural Dunkirk residence when he got sprinkled with an agricultural weed killer called Canopy.
The next month, Muncie resident Julie Gray was watching her husband play softball at the Muncie Sportsplex when she noticed a very strong odor of weed killer being applied by a lawn care company to a nearby soccer field.
The three were among 95 Hoosiers who filed off-target pesticide drift complaints last year that resulted in the Office of Indiana State Chemist issuing 39 warnings or fines to applicators for failure to follow label directions.
The number of pesticide drift complaints statewide, combined with an increasing number of telephone inquiries, has prompted Purdue Extension to publish a new brochure advising consumers what steps to take when chemicals used to manage weeds or insects are blown or carried off target by wind — posing a potential risk to people, animals, vegetable gardens and trees on neighboring properties.
"Whether it's a next-door neighbor or a farmer who owns the field adjacent to your property, they have the legal right to apply pesticides to their property," says Fred Whitford, director of the Purdue Pesticide Programs and a co-author of the publication. "However, pesticide applicators also have the legal obligation to keep those products on their side of the property."
Ring told OISC investigators he was in his greenhouse when he heard and saw a farmer spraying pesticides across the road. After closing up the greenhouse, Ring felt a mist burn his eyes as he walked to his house to close the windows. He bagged the T-shirt he was wearing in a Ziploc bag. The OISC Residue Lab detected 5,721 nanograms of 2, 4-D on the shirt and 91.1 parts per billion of the weed killer on Ring's dogwood trees.
"It's great that they have a pamphlet acknowledging drift is a problem, but they are not enforcing it," Ring told The Star Press. "The inspector told me it was the largest amount he had ever seen sprayed directly on a person. But the only thing the applicator got was a warning. These applicators are using the strongest cocktail mixes, and they're constantly developing new ones to combat super weeds that are resistant to the herbicides. They are way more potent and concentrated than golf courses use, and there are no regulations on how strong the concentrations are. I've got a bad feeling this is going to affect my health down the road. I've already had health issues since being sprayed, digestive issues, and my immune system has been suppressed."