To the editor:
Thank you for the story on irresponsible pesticide applications to public lawn areas in Ellsworth (WWF Nov. 2006). Your readers are well served by your pointing out that “state-certified” pesticide applicators working for the school system are careless and/or ignorant of the rules, putting students and teachers at risk.
Craig Idlebrook’s story begs the question: What about toxic chemicals used around hospitals and other health-care facilities?
Taking my cue from Gary Fish of the Maine Pesticide Control Board, quoted in the article as saying: “If anybody shouldn’t be [spraying pesticides, it’s] hospitals,” I called Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and asked for their institutional policy on lawn maintenance. I was told that they have a contract with one of the local pest-control companies, whose pesticide applicators come on a regular schedule to kill weeds as well as grubs and other insects with a variety of toxic products. On the list are phenoxy herbicides and carbamate insecticides, both of which are carcinogenic and damaging to the nervous systems of people, fish, and animals — and of course beneficial insects and birds on which we depend for pollinating food crops.
There’s a much bigger story here, as we head into the early spring extermination blitz….
Jody Spear
Harborside