Pesticide exposure

As the beneficiary of unwanted pesticide-drift, I believe pesticide usage influences all of us. Utah laws and regulations don't even mandate that companies must leave signs notifying people that pesticides have been applied.

In "Should Utahns alert neighbors to pesticide use?" (Tribune, Oct. 7), I was troubled by the reported views of state regulator Clark Burgess about pesticides and neighborhood notification laws:

"Clark Burgess, who leads Utah's pesticide office, doubts that such an approach would work here, where about 11,000 pesticide products are in use. 'I don't know how that's realistically possible,' he said.

"Not only would it be costly for the companies and their customers, but Burgess noted it would be nearly impossible to enforce, with just four full-time inspectors statewide."

While Burgess thinks neighborhood pesticide notification impractical, his office should encourage and welcome opportunities to explore solutions that help protect the health of Utahns.

In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson wrote: "A Who's Who of pesticides is therefore of concern to us all. If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals — eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones — we had better know something about their nature and their power."

Elva Jensen

Murray