Rochester Post-Bulletin
By Laura Horihan

PROSPER, Minn. — Marie Nickell and her husband Mark were roofing their well pit in Prosper last Thursday night when they heard a helicopter flying overhead. A few minutes later a smokey-colored cloud began to drift over the small town located on U.S. 52 on the Minnesota-Iowa border.

Suspecting that the cloud was created by an agricultural chemical, the couple quickly went inside, shut all of their windows and then decided to get in their car and drive as far away from the cloud as a they could.

“We didn’t know what it was at first,” Nickell recalled earlier this week. She said it wasn’t windy at the time, so it took a while for the chemical drift to dissipate. When the skies appeared safe they returned home; however, a few hours later both noticed they had sore throats.

They’re also worried that the organic fruits and vegetables they grow have been contaminated with chemicals.

Nickell decided to report the incident to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture spokesman Mike Schommer said Monday that he couldn’t release information regarding the company involved in the spraying until after the investigation is complete.

Nickell believes the chemical sprayed was a fungicide.

He said MDA staff members would be taking samples from vegetation in the area to determine whether or not the chemical had landed in the community.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act prohibits aerial application of registered pesticides in ways that will result in human contact, either directly or through drifting.

Schommer said the MDA received a call from the state duty officer regarding the incident at 10:30 a.m. Friday. The town had received about a quarter inch of rain Friday night and Schommer said it could make it “a little tough to collect evidence.”

“They’ll collect what evidence they can and see what the facts support,” he said.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture receives between 50 to 70 calls a year with complaints regarding pesticide drift. He said laws regarding pesticides differ depending on the type of product. “Generally speaking, the label is the law and the law is that you follow the label,” Schommer said.

The Nickells were told that they shouldn’t expect their vegetables to die, but that news doesn’t comfort them. They’ve worked hard to grow organic fruits and vegetables for their own meals. “We try to grow our own food and we try to do it without chemicals, so that’s disturbing when chemicals are being dropped on our crops against our will,” Nickell said. She realizes that for some people, organic farming is a leap, but she said many people in the area have been trying it.

“It’s really a helpless feeling when there’s a chemical coming from the air that you can’t stop,” Nickell said. “I know farmers have to do what they think is right, I just don’t want them to do it right on top of us.”

According to a story in Decorah Newspapers, a Mississippi company was fined $4,082 in July for an incident that occurred Aug. 12, 2009 involving a liquid fungicide that was spayed on Trout Run Trail near Decorah. Several people were on the trail when the chemical was being applied, including at least five members of the Decorah High School cross country team. None of the runners sought medical attention, but complained of skin and eye irritation.

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