"Chemical Drift a Growing Concern for Rural Residents"

"MACKINAW -- Paul Hahn, owner of Mackinaw Valley Vineyard, has battled chemical drift from nearby farm fields for more than a decade, and this year his vines got slammed by drift from the herbicide 2,4-D.

'My vineyard was burned real bad this spring. I can't tell the extent yet, but it's bad,' Hahn said. 'All my neighbors know I have grapes, and they all know what 2,4-D (drift) does to grapes, but someone used it.'

Cal Snow, a retired high school teacher, has watched chemical drift from a nearby farm field billow over children playing in his subdivision south of Lacon.

Across Illinois Route 26 from Snow's subdivision, Gary Barnes, a retired minister, has filed complaints about chemical drift with the Illinois Department of Agriculture for 14 years.

State legislatures throughout the country are grappling with chemical drift from farm fields and the conflict between the rights and pressures of farming and the rights and health of rural residents."

Clare Howard reports for the Peoria Journal Star July 25, 2009 with Steve Tarter.

See Also:

"Illinois Farmers Have Increased Use of Plane-Sprayed Fungicides"