Reporting by Gabriel Matias Castilho for Inside Climate News:
A bill in the Illinois General Assembly would require certified pesticide users—anyone licensed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture to use Restricted Use pesticides, such as paraquat or fumigant insecticides—to give written or emailed notice at least 24 hours before application at any school, child care facility or park located within 1,500 feet of application that opted to receive them.
According to House Bill 1596, the notice must include the intended location and range of dates and times of application, the common name of each product and the type of pesticide applied, the name and telephone number of the licensed applicator and contact information for IDA for complaints of pesticide misuse.
“This is about making sure that people are aware that these chemicals are being sprayed in proximity,” said state Rep. Laura Faver Dias (D-Grayslake), the lawmaker who proposed the bill. “They can decide how they want to move forward with that information, but I think the first step is awareness that isn’t even happening at all.”
The bill is currently referred to the Rules Committee, after a hearing on April 7 that featured testimony from the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association and the Peoria City/County Health Department. The same committee approved it last spring but it did not get a vote on the House floor. The deadline for this session’s House bills to be passed is May 31.