R.D. Offutt has said it's fixing the pesticide problem and has taken care of the situation, I credit them with recognizing the problem, but it is far from solved. Spraying the fields every seven days instead of five is good, but the air is still polluted every day. The chemical volatilizes (evaporates) off the field when the sun comes up. Then it travels with the wind.
This summer, in our area, there were several times they were spraying with winds at 10 mph. That takes six minutes to travel one mile to our yard from the huge fields. That's a lot of poison to breathe. They use chloro- thalonil, a very toxic chemical with serious side effects.
For years, we were told it wasn't harmful. Now, years later, we see all these effects on the environment and aquatic life. Frogs gone, no butterflies, hundreds of birds died, the breeding of our animals affected. R.D. Offutt says it is using different chemicals. Something more effective, more toxic?
We belong to the Toxic Taters Coalition which has asked RD Offutt to:
• Significantly decrease the amount of pesticides used on potatoes sold to McDonald's and other food chains.
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• Release information on chemicals being applied to crops.
• Conduct an independent public health study on impacted communities near potato producers.
• Potato producers, including RDO, adopt the best sustainable ag practices.
These requests have not been fulfilled, yet.
Editor's note: The Smiths live in Frazee, Minn.
