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Talking With Your Neighbors about Pesticide Use in Maine: Your Rights and Responsibilities
July 16, 2012
Contact: Henry Jennings, Executive Director
(207) 287-2731
Maine Department of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Resources
Walt Whitcomb, Commissioner
Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
Please deliver to the city or assignment editor
With one (1) .jpg attached
Notification poster
Talking With Your Neighbors about Pesticide Use in Maine:
Your Rights and Responsibilities
AUGUSTA, Maine -- A mild winter and an extremely wet spring may have given bugs, blights, and weeds a leg up on Mainers this year. When these rise to the level of pests and become a problem -- to our homes, our gardens, our farms, and ourselves -- there are various ways of combating them, including pulling, pruning, and squishing, as well as using pesticides.
When pesticides are used in Maine, the Board of Pesticides Control, under the Maine Department of Agriculture, wants Mainers to know their rights and responsibilities regarding pesticide notification.
“If you want to know in advance what pesticides are being used and when, you have the right to know, but it’s your responsibility to ask your neighbor first,” said John Jemison, board chair. “Everyone has the right to use pesticides, but with that right comes the responsibility to abide by the law and notify neighbors who ask.”
To help get the word out about Maine residents’ rights and responsibilities, the Board of Pesticides Control is circulating an informational poster incorporating the message and directing those interested to go to the board’s Web site or to call the board’s office for more information.
For details on Maine’s pesticide notification law, a copy of the poster for display, or to learn more about the proper use of pesticides, go to http://www.thinkfirstspraylast.org
Or call 207-287-2731.
For more information about the Maine Department of Agriculture, go to: http://www.maine.gov/agriculture
Related Files
Notification Poster (JPG)
