*** from Yelgun has lived with the problem for 14 years, and is convinced that his family’s health problems are directly related to pesticide spraying. Before they moved to the area, Stan and his wife were very healthy but now the family often suffers from watering eyes, sore throats and runny noses, vomiting. nausea and blinding headaches. Stan’s wife had two stressful pregnancies and suffers from respiratory problems and Stan gets bad rashes on the face and arms. Their two sons were born with skeletal deformities in the feet and jaw and have problems with their concentration spans. The older boy suffered severe psychological trauma initiated when he was evacuated from his home, wrapped in plastic, during one particularly bad spray incident.

Stan has personally witnessed extensive spray drift onto his property, on many occasions under conditions of high wind when the risk of drift has been certain. In September 1991, pesticides were applied within 50 metres of his home and he recorded this and many other instances where careless application placed his and other families at risk. Stan has also written and made submissions to the NSW Government about pesticide mismanagement but his efforts have got him nowhere. Indeed, local government officials have sought to portray him as an unbalanced and emotionally driven person with little regard or knowledge of science, which, for them has shown that 2,4-D is harmless. p102/3 Quick Poison Slow Poison. Pesticide Risk in the Lucky Country. Kate Short 1994