Trapped

[Boston001]

Something that has become a serious mental health issue for me in the past 4-5 years. I have several neighbors that have hired commercial Pest control companies to spray deer and insect repellent. My biggest problem is I cannot open my windows between the months of March and December. 10 months a year they spray, randomly sometimes twice a month depending on if it rained and washed away their chemicals or if the neighbor calls to have a treatment before a pool party or something. So ten months of nice warm weather one would want to open the window to let in the fresh air.

Imagine for a moment you are sleeping in your bed and then suddenly you wake up to find you have a mouthful of chemicals every room in your home smells of an overpowering cedar-peppermint mixture, it is literally like being pepper sprayed in your own bed. On another occasion, I was caught off guard and I walked out my front door and immediately my face and arms were wet with these chemicals.

They applied these treatments with a power/pressure washer, on the back of a truck with a 1000-gallon tank. Another company uses a device that looks like a gas-powered, backpack leaf blower. Both systems create an aerosol spray that travels through the air.

I have spoken with my neighbors and the companies that they use to spray and they are unsympathetic and dismissive. "They are all-natural ingredients" they say. I have written letters to my town and the State board of health. I have written letters to the state and federal EPA. And I keep getting the same answer, They are using a product that is "Unregulated" by the EPA. It is beyond my comprehension that I live in a world where it is lawful to spray chemicals on unwilling neighbors. There are state ordinances against roosters crowing, secondhand smoke, and even wearing perfume in some government buildings. But it's cool to spray chemicals that drift in the air for hours, 100s of yards from the area being treated.

It's not like I can afford to hire a lawyer to drop a nuisance lawsuit on everybody involved. I have done Google searches to find people that feel the way I do and all I get are ads for more Exterminators.

So yes, this has become a serious mental health issue for me. I am angry, I am frustrated, and I am afraid to leave my windows open in the home that I have lived in for over 50 years.

[Boston001]

I am sorry to hear about your neighbor's fire pit aggravating your health condition, I can relate with you. It is 10 months a year they spray, randomly sometimes twice a month depending on if it rained and washed away their chemicals or if the neighbor calls to have a treatment before a pool party or something. So ten months of nice warm weather one would want to open the window to let in the fresh air. I have contacted the EPA and the board of health and they tell me the product they are spraying is "Unregulated" so as far as the government is concerned it's okay to run around and pump this crap into the environment, every time the truck sprays they put down something like 10 gallons with a pressure washer as the spraying machine. As I said I can't afford to hire a lawyer to drop a nuisance lawsuit on everybody involved. and with my agoraphobia and other disabilities advocating for myself is very difficult

[Boston001]

Having been a truck driver for 20 years I know all about Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and I have found most of the compounds they are using and they are all cleverly disguised as natural things like Cedar oil, peppermint, rose oil. Just because something is non-toxic and natural is it right to spray someone with it? I see your home windows are open and I spray them with a garden hose, Water that's natural and non-toxic. I had it tested by the Massachusetts EPA and they were the ones who said it was unregulated and they have no help for me

[Blueruth]

ICK! I had a neighbor that smoked under my window and it became a big todo because he wanted to make an "exception" for a party and I dared say no. We never got along after that. In your case they could at least notify and schedule a more appropriate time like when they are eating dinner.

My advice is to contact your local politicians. They make the laws. It is easiest to start really local like your town council member. You would request a meeting and probably testify at a council meeting. Your house district political party probably has a monthly meeting (dem, repub, whatever). You could go to one of those to ask for advice and possibly get sympathy and support from your neighbors. Who knows... maybe there are other neighbors experiencing the same problem.

[Blueruth in reply to Blueruth]

Don't forget to invite them to your home when they are spraying! Early morning coffee meeting.

[Midori]

I am sorry to hear that you find the spraying offensive; but I would probably feel similar in the same situation.

Even natural liquids can be irritant, and there should be times when it is not permitted, but folk often don't think of the needs of others when they want their bugs sprayed. There should, in my view be an official notice for when spraying needs to be done.

It rarely happens in Britain, except for Muckspreading season, but we are lucky in that we don't have too many noxious bugs in Britain.

I would also suggest you contacted the Environmental Health office for your area. I'm a Brit, so I don't know what your Departments are called which deal with this kind of thing, but they should either be able to tell you who to call, or take some kind of action.

Cheers, Midori