The first three steps are things you can do ahead of time to avoid pesticide drift and injury. If spraying is about to occur or has already occurred, skip to step 4.

1. Notify people who might be spraying in your area that you are concerned about exposure to pesticides.
2. Ask those people who might spray near you to notify you in advance so that you can protect yourself, your family, and your property.
3. If county or township roadside spraying is a problem, post your roadside with "do not spray" signs and notify the appropriate county/township personnel.
4. If you know that there will be spraying in your area:
   • Try to find out what will be sprayed, and get a copy of the label and the material safety data sheet (MSDS). If the sprayer won't give you a copy, get the name of the product as completely as possible, and call the state enforcement agency and ask for a label. Or check out EPA's label files.
   • If it's possible, get sensitive individuals (children and pregnant women, especially) out of the area during and immediately after the spraying.
   • When driving through an area that has been sprayed, close your windows and vents, putting your car's fan on maximum recirculation.
   • Don't allow pets to run through sprayed areas. Besides the hazards to them, they can track pesticides into the house, where they last longer than they would outside.
5. When they spray:
   •  Protect yourself. Don't forget things like clothes hanging on clotheslines!
   •  Gather information and write it down.
6. If there is drift, or you suspect drift, of the pesticide onto you or your property, call your state agency to file a pesticide misuse complaint.Ask them to send an investigator. Also, register your complaint with the EPA’s main office. Contact:
   
   Frank Davido, Pesticide Incident Response Officer
   U.S. EPA, Office of Pesticide Programs
   401 M Street SW
   Washington, D.C. 20460
   703/ 305-7576
7. After the most urgent steps have been taken care of:
   • Call the landowner, farmer, or pesticide applicator to find out what pesticide was used. The name could be given as a trade name or a common name ("active ingredients"). Try to get both.
   • Find out possible ill effects of exposure and what you can do to mitigate them. An important source of information is the pesticide label. Additional information is available from several sources, including Beyond Pesticides,the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Pesticide Action Network's Pesticide Information Database.
   • Take recommended medical measures.
   • MAYBE wash herbicide residues off valuable trees and shrubs after taking samples.
   • Document the damage:
   • In the case of herbicides, it is important to document the condition of susceptible plants before and after the damage is apparent.
   • In the case of physical illness of people or animals, see a physician or veterinarian to confirm symptoms, obtain a diagnosis, and receive treatment. Get a written report signed by the physician or veterinarian.
   • In the case of a bee kill, examine the hives immediately. Unusual behavior, lack of bees in the hive, and unusually high mortality (more than 100 bees per day) are good indications of pesticide poisoning.
   • Try to eliminate other possible causes for the damage: disease, pest damage, drought, low oxygen levels in ponds, etc.
   • It is always helpful to have an impartial witness accompany you in collecting the evidence.
   • Write all this down as soon as possible.
   • Keep a record of every phone call and conversation regarding the incident (name, date, time, and substance).
8. Legal recourse. There are two main avenues of legal recourse--action taken by the state or EPA against the applicator because of violations of the law and civil action to recover compensation for damages.
9. Tell Beyond Pesticides what happened. Beyond Pesticides monitors the effectiveness of state and federal enforcement programs, so we will know the real risks associated with pesticides.
10. Join Beyond Pesticides and help eliminate pesticide problems.

This article can be found in full at Beyond Pesticides: The National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides.

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