What products are you using around your home that may cause a slew of terrible side effects for you and your family? Some aren’t as obvious as you’d think.
Home use of pesticides is the cause of 45% of the systemic diseases studied by the state of California Department of Pesticide Regulation. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report indicates, “Exposure to pesticides can produce cough, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and eye irritation. There is also mounting evidence that long-term pesticide exposure in adults is associated with chronic health effects such as cancer, neurologic problems and reproductive problems.” Another report links a mother’s exposure to pesticides during pregnancy to developmental delays in the unborn child.
According to the CDC, exposure to pesticides can produce symptoms such as:
- Cough
- Shortness of Breath
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Eye Irritation
Flea Collars: Toxic to Pests and Tots
Pet pesticides, such as flea collars, are of particular concern. According to the National Resource Defense Council, “Residue levels produced by some flea collars are so high that they pose a risk of cancer and damage to the neurological system of children up to 1,000 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable levels.”
Infants and young children are more vulnerable to the side effects of pesticide use and are more likely to experience higher levels of exposure when compared to adults. Very young children are often more active with animals that have been treated for fleas or are wearing a collar to prevent infestation. As insects become more resistant to the chemicals in these products, companies continually increase the dosage, creating a greater danger.
Cancer and Pesticide Exposure
Pet treatments can also pose a considerable risk of cancer. Chemicals like tetrachlorvinphos and propoxur used to kill pests on your pets have a verifiable link to an increased incidence of cancer. Lawn and garden pesticides used to keep plants free of insects can increase the risk of leukemia in children. More and more links between various cancers and the common pesticides used both around the home and in commercial farming are being discovered everyday as victims fall ill due to pesticide exposure.
Frequent use of even common pesticides can wreak havoc on a family’s health. For parents that have to help their children through developmental delays caused by exposure to these chemicals, the loss of potential in their child can be devastating to watch. Cancer patients usually need to undergo painful and expensive treatments and procedures for their conditions, putting an additional financial burden on them and their families.
What You Can Do
The most important action families can take is to avoid using chemical pesticides whenever possible. If harm has already come to your family from these products, you may need to seek legal help to deal with the financial toll that pesticide exposure can take. Legal action help victims shoulder the financial cost of treatments and lost wages due to illness from pesticides, and such lawsuits help others by bringing attention to the problem.
Contact Us
If you believe your family’s health problems stem from chemical exposure, contact our office. A trained staff of knowledgeable attorneys is available to speak with you at no cost to evaluate your case. We can help you decide if filing suit is the right decision. Because the law limits the time allowed to file a claim, you should act now.
