How to handle pesticide drift

Many farms in Illinois and other states use pesticides to deal with weeds, bacteria and more. Left unchecked, all of those can have a major effect on crop yields.

There are federal and state regulations in place for using pesticides, but those aren’t stopping them from drifting well beyond the areas where they’re applied leading to wilting trees, dead plants in backyard gardens, and other farms, and sick people. 

A Central Illinois resident impacted by pesticide drift and an ecological health expert discuss the ongoing debate over whether and how to tighten regulations of these chemicals.

GUESTS

Kim Erndt-Pitcher 
Director of Ecological Health, Prairie Rivers Network

Katie VandenBerg 
Tazewell County resident
Filed complaint with Illinois Department of Agriculture about pesticide drift at her daughter’s school in Morton