One day Natalie, a mom and nurse who lives in my town, called me, furious, and said that a truck with a tank had just sprayed her street with Rodeo (a glyphosate-based herbicide). She had a picture of the truck spraying that day, so we filed a complaint with the county agricultural commissioner and went to the Orange County Public Works with a binder of studies.

After one meeting and a few calls and emails, the manager agreed to propose alternatives. Since then, after a few meetings, our city has agreed to stop spraying glyphosate-based herbicides in residential neighborhoods. We are told that by July 2019 our city will have organic land care. Due to the efforts of many committed parents, my son’s entire school district has also agreed to use alternatives such as safer chemicals, mulch, and weed whacking. This was especially important to me because we noticed that he would have trouble breathing, and had asthma symptoms, after the city workers had sprayed Roundup on the hillsides by his school. It is terrifying to see your child having difficulty breathing. I am so grateful that his school district has discontinued the use of glyphosate herbicides.

Did you know that many counties in America aerial spray toxic chemicals over cities and towns to kill mosquitos? The department that decides to do this is called Vector Control and each city has an elected official, a Planning Commissioner or "trustee" on that board. Together, they decide when and what will be sprayed over your home, backyard gardens, playgrounds, streams, and schools, while you sleep.

This week, in my county a few of the Vector Control board members thought it might be a good idea to have only 3 people head the decision-making committee along with just one trustee from the affected areas. Their intention was to not have to have all 35 members convene if spraying were to be done, for a vote. Because 48 hours of public notice must be given (they post it on their website), they often feel it is inconvenient to have to rush to convene and give us notice before they spray.