News - Little yellow flags mean poison is present

I believe that someday soon we will remember the practice of spraying poisons on our earth with the same disdain that we now view slavery.

To the editor:

In September 1995 my father, George Carl Becker, died suddenly from complications of a disease called Aplastic Anemia. He was 48 years old. Sixteen years earlier, at 32, my father was a picture of health. Tall, strong and broad-shouldered, a former division one athlete with a wife and a young son. Later that same year, my father began to experience the severe and varied symptoms that would shape the rest of his life. Tests reveled that his bone marrow had lost the ability to produce blood cells. He was told that he had six months to live. The doctors also told him that his disease was most likely caused by his recent exposure to a pesticide called Lindane.

I reflect on this story often, but I think about it more when I see those little yellow pesticide application signs around our town fields or lawns. Contrary to what some believe, these chemicals are not harmless. They do not merely disappear when the signs do. They are tremendously harmful to all life and have been linked with, or shown to cause, many types of human and animal cancers, many types of lymphoma, tumors, cell and tissue damage, developmental and learning problems as well as countless other things.

I realize that people like their lawns to look neat, and that we've been using chemicals on our food and fields for years. I realize also that Connecticut residents have one of the highest rates of cancer in the nation and that children are often particularly sensitive to these toxins. There is a better way and some towns are boldly stepping toward it. Marblehead, Mass., for example has banned pesticide use on all public property and now uses organic methods. Find out more at livinglawns.org.

I believe that someday soon we will remember the practice of spraying poisons on our earth with the same disdain that we now view slavery. It took a tragedy for me to learn about the dangers in pesticide use. Let us take steps to make sure it does not happen again.

George B.