Are toxic herbicides being sprayed in your neighborhood?

[YankeyMCC]

Email message from Frank Gorke, Environment Massachusetts Director

Since last week when I told you about the toxic pesticides that
MassHighway is planning to spray on roadsides across the state, you've had a
lot of questions...What kind of chemicals? What could happen to me or my
kids if we are exposed to them? Are they going to be spraying in my
backyard? Let me tell you the answers to those questions and more.

The chemicals that MassHighway is currently using or planning to use
are Oust Extra and Accord Concentrate. The toxic ingredient in Accord
Concentrate is Glyphosate, and it has been linked to such health risks as
eye soreness, headaches and flu-like symptoms. Long term exposure
could affect reproductive development and has shown an increase in pancreas
and liver tumors in lab rats. Oust Extra has Sulfometuron Methyl which
can cause blurred vision, reproductive issues and anemia.

MassHighway has plans to spray these chemicals in dozens of cities and
towns across the state. Click on the link below to see a map of where
spraying is happening or may happen, and you can click on the pins on
each city to find out more about which roadsides are being sprayed.

https://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/healthy-massachusetts/herbicides-map3?id4=ES

Please pass this information on to people you know who live in one of
these cities or towns.

To find out more about Glyphosate, click on the links below:

http://data.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33138
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidefactsheets/toxic/glyphosate.htm

Sincerely,

Frank Gorke
Environment Massachusetts Director
[e-mail]
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org

[rockedthevoteinMA]

1. Done... Thanks for the update

Hate the herbicides people are lead to believe are thoroughly non toxic. No one really pays attention to the Round Up they spray every where... or the long term effects of it.

[Kat45]

2. IIRC, I learned about the toxicity of Roundup back in the late '70s

in my environmental biology class. I won't go anywhere near the stuff. When I see a yard with a sign on it that says it's been sprayed (or whatever it is they do with it), I make a strong effort not to let my foot even set down on the ground there for a second. I accidentally did last year, and I haven't worn the shoes since! (I know, I go a little too far--I have OCD and one of the things I'll obsess about is toxins--but that doesn't negate the fact that these things are toxic.) I've also been afraid of DEET since that class.

Hard to believe that when we were kids, the towns went around spraying all the trees with pesticides every spring--and back then, it was probably even more toxic stuff. After they'd sprayed, you'd see stains on all the leaves. Who knows what effects that may have had on us. But hey, back then I even lived down the street from a nuclear reactor (!), which I didn't even know about until recent years. I wonder if that's why a lot of folks from my neighborhood have/had neurological problems?