Protect Del Sur's Children and Pets from Toxins

Did you know that Del Sur’s parks, sidewalks, trails and greenbelts are frequently sprayed with 14 different types of toxic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides? These chemicals have been shown to lower IQ, cause cancer, damage developing reproductive organs and cause other significant harm.

Glyphosate (an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto's popular Roundup weed killer), is an example of one these toxins routinely administered. In July 2017, glyphosate was added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer. This followed the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that glyphosate probably causes cancer in humans. Most recently in August 2018, a California jury held Monsanto liable for causing a school groundskeeper to contract non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as a result of his use of glyphosate and awarded him $289 million in damages. There are over 800 current law suites against Monsanto claiming that glyphosate caused cancer.

Despite these grave warnings and almost two years of pleas to the Del Sur HOA, CalAtlantic/Lennar and FirstService Residential, these community representatives continue to authorize Del Sur's landscaping and pest control vendor to spray glyphosate and other toxic chemicals in the places where our children play, roll in the grass, and do all the other things kids like to do.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that there is no safe level of pesticide exposure for children. Pesticides are toxic chemicals - poisons created to kill. They are dangerous for all living things, including adults and pregnant women, and are particularly dangerous for a child’s developing organ systems.

Moreover, according to a study conducted over a 6 year period at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, exposure to lawn pesticides, specifically those applied by professional lawn care companies, raised the risk of canine malignant lymphoma (CML) by as much as 70%.

Why are our children and pets being subjected to these risks? For cosmetic landscaping purposes? Dandelions do not pose a risk to children, but 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid does. 2,4-D is one of the key ingredients in Agent Orange, and is another one of the 14 synthetic chemicals frequently used for cosmetic landscaping in Del Sur. This needs to stop.

You, your family and pets can still be affected if chemicals are not sprayed on your street. Pesticides have been shown to drift for miles and persist in indoor carpet fibers for a year after they are tracked inside. The U.S. Geological Survey found that, “after they are applied, many pesticides volatilize into the lower atmosphere, a process that can continue for days, weeks, or months after the application, depending on the compound. In addition, pesticides can become airborne attached to wind-blown dust.” In clay soils like ours, the half-life of glyphosate can be as long as 22 years.

Moreover, the interactions between the many chemicals being sprayed near our homes and in our parks are unknown. According to David Bellinger, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, “impacts from multiple chemicals may simply add up, amplify one another's effects.” By allowing children and pets to be exposed to toxins or chemicals of unknown toxicity, we are unwittingly using them in a massive experiment.

This issue affects every person and pet in Del Sur.