THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF ALLERGIES: FOGGING FOR INSECT ABATEMENT AND WEED CONTROL

We have spoken of insecticides as a source of indoor air pollution. They are also a source of outdoor air pollution, especially in the form of insect and weed abatement programs.

Many people who know themselves to be susceptible to chemicals move to the suburbs or the countryside to escape from the source of their problem. Having moved to what they think is a safe haven, they are sometimes presented with a worse problem: insect abatement. Sometimes rural or suburban residents are “abated” in the dead of night without any prior warning. Large chemical spraying rigs move through the neighborhood, applying poisons to trees, roadsides, and ponds.

Sleeping quietly in bed with the windows open, a susceptible person’s first warning of an abatement rig may be to awake with a strangling cough or even an epilepticlike seizure. I have been called out at night on a number of occasions to resuscitate such people.

Chemically susceptible patients living in areas where these programs exist have to take rather elaborate precautions to guard against such exposures. Some contact the local agencies and ask them for advance notice when their area is to be treated with pesticide sprays. Others flee the area when spraying starts or lock themselves in their homes until the toxic chemicals disperse somewhat.

Yet others attempt to move farther into the country. Sadly, this strategy usually fails, since the abatement programs are often enthusiastically carried out in the rural districts as well. New spraying agencies are continually being formed, or else the escapee runs into trouble with farmers who are spraying for weed and insect control or with foresters spraying their trees. A few of my patients have actually moved back into the city, in order to escape the indiscriminate spraying which is now practiced in the countryside!

It is a sad commentary when people must flee to the polluted cities to escape the even worse pollution of the rural areas. Even a drive in the country is now often perilous for chemically susceptible individuals. One may suddenly encounter roadside weed control programs at any time. If this happens, you are well advised to stop, turn the car around, and escape as quickly as possible. An alternative plan is to close the car windows and breathe through an activated carbon filter, if one is available. Even driving along a recently sprayed roadside or railway right-of-way or through a country area immediately after spraying may trigger reactions.

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