For Work with Illegal Pesticide Peril Illegal applications and sales contaminated hundreds of residences Workers were required to use protective gear when dealing with the potentially deadly substance. F ourteen Illinois EPA staffers were part of a massive multi-agency response in 1997 and 1998 to investigate and clean up homes and apartments in the Chicago metro area where the potentially highly toxic pesticide methyl parathion had been illegally applied. The Illinois EPA employees participated in a sampling effort involving hundreds of locations in more than 20 communities.
Methyl parathion is registered only for outdoor use, chiefly on cotton fields.
Field work was performed which required our staff to set aside their regular duties and possibly risk being exposed to the pesticide themselves. Both field and headquarters staff participated to protect public health. Illinois EPA joined several other agencies in the massive response to the illegal spraying by Ruben Brown from 1991 to 1997. The chemical is registered only for outdoor use, primarily on cotton fields. Brown applied it for indoor insect control and sold it in unmarked jars.