A dangerous class of chemicals - and we're exposed daily
Christmas trees, Parks, cannabis, apartment buildings, restrooms, grocery stores, clothing, neighborhoods, restaurants, dorm rooms, packages & daycares
As a new mom, it can be completely overwhelming trying to find a way to keep your little one safe and healthy. I want to empower you with resources so that you can find control for the sneaky things that may be messing with your families health. This article today comes from my family’s personal experience with a dangerous class of chemicals we never knew to avoid.
Our dog Mowgli’s back legs collapsed in January 2022 after a walk in the park.
It took us months to figure out why our 115 lbs Rottweiler dropped 30 lbs, developed burns and sores on his tongue and gums and temporarily lost the use of his hind legs. (If you want to read more information on Mowgli’s story check out this link ) We found out our large HOA of Summerlin, Las Vegas (124,000+ residents live in this HOA owned by Howard Hughes Corporation) was spraying the walking path behind our home almost weekly with a chemical called Glyphosate, also known by the brand name of RoundUp. Surely this couldn’t be the RoundUp with 40,000 pending lawsuits and the one the World Health Organization declared as “probably carcinogenic” .
It was.
Months later
We had our soil sampled near our backyard by the Nevada Department of Agriculture (the NDA was directed by the EPA to take on our case after we complained of pesticide drift) in June 2022 and they found 1516.4 ppm of glyphosate, the EPA considers at 700 ppm and over as dangerous. It took months of calling the EPA and NDA to find out how harmful 1516.4 ppm of glyphosate even was. The information was eventually given to me by a private laboratory in Colorado. I was essentially ghosted by the NDA. We never received an apology from the HOA or landscaper. After all, these chemicals are approved by the EPA.
We sold our home after finding out almost all of the 10 acres of parks and recreational spaces within Summerlin were treated with some sort of herbicide and/or pesticide (these treatments included public restrooms and community centers). We continue to advocate for Summerlin after hearing countless stories of pets dying on the park grass of seizures, children having random asthma attacks when going to the park and residents complaining of burning eyes after herbicide applications near their home. You can read some of these residents testimonials here.
I started doing research on the whole class of pesticides; fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and rodenticides
We moved all over the country trying to find a place to raise our future child and it turned out, these chemicals were used all over the place. They are used in daycares, restrooms, restaurants, legal cannabis, Airbnbs, grocery stores, packages and hotel rooms for pest prevention. Fungicides are even sprayed on clothing and furniture.
Every encounter was met with some version of “these products are legal and the pest control/ landscaper says they’re harmless”
Even though there are multiple lawsuits, complaints and concerns over these chemicals, there is no federal laws on posting for urban pesticide use. That means a daycare and grocery stores can spray insecticides without notifying the public. Aside from the label, there are no federal laws about how pesticides may be used in schools.
How to protect you and your family from pesticides
Find out if your HOA, apartment building, grocery store, school, daycare, public park etc. is spraying for pesticides. This may take some work to find out the exact information on spray schedule and chemicals being used. Don’t give up - you have the right to ask for this information!
Ask for the product label. This is essential because in our experience many pest control and landscaping companies do not want to share the products they are using (and in our experience they will continuously say what they are using is safe and not share the product name).
Find out your risks by searching the active ingredient and/or product name with the Beyond Pesticides search tool here. You can find up to date research on chemical formulations, file a pesticide incident reports and more.
Advocate for going pesticide free. With this information you can inform other pet owners, community members, parents and neighbors so that you can come together to find a method that works best for the health of everyone.
If you have questions or need more information feel free to reach out to me in the comments.
My Mold & Corruption Substack may be of interest to you