Aerial Spraying of fields around homes
In Progress
Tuesday 27 June 2017 5:53 AM
Location: El Centro CA, 92243 Country Homes
Categorie: Pesticides
Description:
On September 26, 2017 while enjoying the afternoon out in our front yard at approximately 4:30pm. A fumigation helicopter commenced his fumigation duties on the field right across the street from my home. Being that it was a windy afternoon, it cause the mist of the sprayed substance to make its way to my home to the point that we all felt the mist in our faces. We immediately ran for cover inside of our home, and closed the windows. I grabbed eye and face protection walked outside and began recording. Shortly after a Chevy truck came to my home, the man inside the truck asked if there was a problem. I explained to him what had happened and expressed my concerns. After a short discussion, we agreed that he would contact me every time they were going to spray. From this incident on, I was contacted via call or text to my cell phone to let me know that they were going to be spraying. I would then close all windows, put wet towels to seal the doors, and turned off the air con or heater if needed. This process would be conducted every time they were going to spray. On June 14, 2017 while my family and I were sleeping. I received a text message at 11:18 pm to let me know that they were going to spraying later that night with no specific time. Usually I would make accommodations but being that it was so late and they had not respected the times of the previous occasion that they had sprayed the field (they had said 11:00pm and didn't start until after 12:00am). I advised the man contacting me via text message that it was too late for me to make accommodations. At 12:10 am I received a phone call from the above mentioned man of the Chevy truck asking if they could spray the field east to my home. After a 6 minute discussion I agreed. At 1:25 am I received a text message that said that they were going to commenced spraying the field. I then turned off my air conditioner. At 1:53 am I was advised that they were done via text message. The following morning of June 15, 2017. My wife woke up with a severe skin reaction all over her body causing her to go to El Centro Hospital emergency room. Later that day due to severe discomfort, we went to see a specialist. The doctor advised that it was highly possible that this reaction could have been a result from a chemical exposure. On June 22,2017 my 6 year old son developed the same skin reaction. We then took him to the same specialist that my wife had seen. His diagnoses was the same, a chemical reaction with an addition chronic pulmonary respiratory infection. On June 27, 2017 at approximately 5:30 am. We were awakened by the loud noise of a peculiar air plane flying over our house. We then realized that the crop field west of us was being sprayed. We immediately got up to turn off the air conditioner system and to seal the door gaps. At approximately 5:53 am we began recording. Later the same day at approximately 7:02 pm once again the same crop field west of our house was getting sprayed with moderately strong winds blowing east towards our house... This activities has robed the comfort of my family and has taken an impact to our health. In March 2017 I came down with a episode of Bells Palsy, and now I am questioning if my surroundings had an influence of this condition.
Administrator Comment:
07/28/2017: The DTSC Imperial CUPA has forwarded this report to the Ag Commissioner's Office. Response: While this complaint is very thorough and has many very serious concerns, it was also difficult to investigate. We were unable to establish that drift occurred in this case. One thing that I would encourage of anyone reading this, please contact my office as quickly as possible upon an incident involving pesticides and particularly pesticide drift. We can address a complaint before it becomes a pattern and will use our resources to investigate. Please contact the Pesticide Use Enforcement Division of the Agricultural Commissioner’s office at 442-265-1500 to report a complaint.