Early this past week, near where I live, a 10 month old baby died, and his mother and 2-year-old brother were seriously sickened, almost certainly by pesticide exposure.
In brief, a young mother, with 2 young children moved into a single wide trailer. It was apparently all she could afford, and infested with roaches. She attempted to control them with “bug bombs” before moving in, but the problem persisted. Later, while living there, she continued to use “bug bombs” to combat the continuing problem, to the extent of greatly exceeding the recommended application rate and frequency. She may or may not have used proper methods. Her youngest developed breathing problems, she called 911, but the baby died. Later while visiting the 2-year-old in the hospital, the mother became ill, had to be admitted, and was moved to the ICU and placed on a ventilator. As far as I know this is where the matter stands. Final results from the toxicology labs are not expected for weeks.
Reactions across the region and nation in internet news article comments I’ve read have been mixed. Most news article comments have been highly emotional, either expressing great sympathy for the mother, or anger and blame at her actions.
My own emotional reaction to this situation has been incredibly muddled, and I’ve delayed posting this long because of that. I’m still not clear. I feel sorrow for the baby. Sorrow and sympathy for the mother and surviving child. Anger at the mother. Anger at the pesticide companies. I also feel a certain sense of personal failure. As illogical as that is, I suspect it’s not uncommon among people like me, who spend a fair amount of their work hours trying to teach people how to deal with pest problems safely and effectively. This whole situation is certainly a horrible failure in understanding of safe pest management and pesticide use .
There are a number of issues that haven’t been addressed in the commentary I’ve read so far. Most of that focused on the issue of the mother’s personal responsibility. Very little has brought up the issue of corporate responsibility, television advertisement as a source of information, labeling practices, public understanding of how to deal with pests or our cultural expectations of easy fixes.
While pesticide labels by regulation must contain pretty full information on how use pesticides as safely as possible, they are often extremely difficult to read. Pesticide companies actually print labels for separate states, using whatever is the minimum font size required by that state. I’ve seen labels with colors that seem deliberately designed to make reading difficult. A medium to light green on a beige background I saw a few years ago seemed designed both for difficult reading and to give the (false) impression that the pesticide was a “green” product. Labels seem to rarely be written for ease of comprehension.
Many people I talk to put great reliance on what they have seen on television (even in paid advertisements), or what they have seen in a store as reliable sources of information. This seems to be a lack of critical thinking skills, a lack of education in evaluating information validity. It is hard to learn these ways of thinking if one reaches adulthood without them. With information bombarding us from all sides, within a more and more rapidly changing world, these skills are essential. How many people have the skills to distinguish the marketing promise of simple, instant satisfaction pest eradication, from the actual pesticide label instructions and warnings? Which has more effect on their behavior?
Most people want easy ways to deal with problems. We’ve come to expect in 21st century America that there is a simple cure in a bottle or jar for everything. With health issues, we see this in the preferred use of drugs to deal with disorders such as adult-onset diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure that would often be more effectively prevented or dealt with by lifestyle changes, diet, etc. With pests, there is the same belief that a magic pill will cure all troubles. Cultural methods, exclusion, cleanliness, etc. just seem too difficult compared to an easy promise on a bright bottle.
How much of this lead to tragedy for a small South Carolina family?
It is very hard to convince the uninformed that if something doesn’t work, using twice as much surely will. Not only does this incorrect apply to pesticides, it is used to justify taking too much of a medication, using twice as much detergent, and wasting expensive face cream.
You are right. There is no magic pill but the belief persists that there is one, we just won’t give it to them.
It amazes me how wide spread the more is better syndrome is. I find it necessary to explain that it isn’t so in virtually every pest management conversation I have.
And generally, people don’t want to hear about cultural controls, even when told that they are necessary or more effective. They just want the name of a spray.
As you say. Lack of education. We had a similar story, I remember, with a farm worker. He used the poison he used working on the farm, to clear his cottage of bugs, and his children died.
I think the fear of insects is so ingrained in people (without basis in most cases) that they don’t even consider that pesticides could be worse. These parents undoubtedly believed that they were protecting their children.
I’ve talked to seemingly intelligent adults so afraid of insects that they were spraying the sheets each night before going to bed.
Many of them have a disturbing trust that companies would never sell anything dangerous, or that the government wouldn’t let them.
It is such a tragedy and you have raised some very good questions.
This is such a sad story. I’m sure that the mother was concerned for the safety of her children, but in the process of trying to protect them, she put them in graver danger. I don’t know how I would be able to live with myself knowing that I had killed my own child.
I know a lot of people think that if they can get something in a store, then it must be safe. I don’t want to live in a world where everything is safe-guarded to the lowest common denominator, but I do agree with you that the companies should be giving a reasonable effort to inform the users of their product of any dangers that may be present.
SCG, once we get these stories in our heads and hearts, it sure is hard to just ignore them…You just want to find some way to stop it from ever happening again. It’s truly tragic…on so many levels. gail
How very, very sad. There are natural alternatives to pesticides. I never use a pesticide and it amazes me how many persons want to grab a spray or a bomb. Gloria
Wow, what a sad story. You brought up some good points. I used to roll my eyes at the organic movement as yuppy and elitist, and now I’m becoming “one of them”.
This is such a well written and important post! This tragedy and many others could not happen if we truly had a EPA that would protect us. Poisonous chemicals are approved daily that should never be allowed to be manufactured. We as citizens should be calling our reps and putting a stop to this insanity. Now we are also faced with radiated food because corps do not want to clean up how they grow our food. Not my food but millions who ‘trust’ (as you say) that we have safe food. If you do not know this site you might like it.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
I so respect and enjoy your blog!
Carol