how much do you worry about pesticides?

[melanie83103]

Ok, I love my DH, and he is such a wonderful father. But he is driving me crazy with his worrying about Owen's exposure to pesticides. We buy mostly organic food, and do not use pesticides/insecticides in or near our home (none in our lawn). I believe that by doing this, we are limiting Owen's exposure to these chemicals. We also don't use hardly any chemicals in our house.

But DH freaks when Owen just WALKS through someone elses lawn, when that person has used lawn treatment in the past. We like to take evening walks, and Owen likes to walk in the grass right by the sidewalk. So sometimes he is walking in a treated lawn. My thing is that we can't control everything. And it's not like Owen is licking the grass, he's just walking over it. I don't want to discourage Owen - he is SUCH a nature boy, and loves ANYTHING nature - walking in the grass, picking up seeds and sticks and bugs, etc.

What are your throughts on this? Do you worry about pesticides to this extent? Owen understands what DH is saying, and that concerns me. The other day at the zoo, Owen asked me if he could touch the plants or did they have "poison" on them. Ugh. I'm afraid DH is going to make Owen into a hand-washing, worrying about "poison" maniac....

Melanie

[gen25gen]

I think what you are doing is admirable and good. Keep up the good work.

I think your DH, while well intentioned, is a little over the top. I understand his concern, and I wouldn't let my child on a chemically treated lawn within 24 hours after its been treated...but come on....that rules out parks, school fields, etc. Kids do need to run, play, and explore nature, ya know?

We also do try to limit the exposure to pesticides but we've recently moved from the west coast to middle america and I already find its much more difficult to get good organics, etc. I really do agree pesticides aren't good, but sometimes you just gotta realize they are out there and do what you can do to avoid them...and then go ahead and live your life.

[chann96]

I think you have a point about not wanting to go too far and scare him into being afraid of the world. OTOH I understand your husband's concern. I did some of my undergraduate and graduate work with toxins so I am pretty paranoid about them. For your specific question about the walks - if I KNEW that someone had sprayed pesticide or herbicide on their lawn in the lawn few weeks I would not let my daughter walk on it. If it was just that I knew they had sprayed the lawn in the spring 4 months ago I wouldn't mind. No, just by walking in the grass it doesn't seem like he might be exposed to much, but the unfortunate reality is that it doesn't take much to be toxic on some levels for children and we don't really even know what those levels are. They can get on pants and tracked into the house or if on bare legs they can be absorbed through the skin. Pesticides don't know the difference between an insect's nervous system (which is how most act) versus our nervous system so I just try to stay away from them as much as possible.

[melanie83103]

Thanks to both of you for your input! Ann, I'm kind of the same way in that I studied biology and ecology and know too much..... it's so hard though, because you can't control everything. Anyway, thanks for the replies!

Melanie