Legal question: Tenant's rights regarding notice before landlord sprays Roundup

[redferngrows]

So my question is: Do California tenants have the legal right to be notified before chemicals (such as Roundup) are sprayed on their rental property?

Here's the story...Let me start by saying this already happened. Said landlord recently sprayed Roundup on some areas around our house/patio, and other parts of his almost 2 acre property that we live on.

The part that really hurts was that he sprayed weeds around the raised bed planter boxes where I have been growing my organic veggies, herbs and flowers this year. I've put in hundreds of hours, and hundreds of dollars worth of soil/amendments into this rather large raised bed garden, and feel crushed that this has happened. We had a verbal agreement with the landlord that we would be using the raised beds for our garden this year, therefore it is part of our rental agreement (as far as I understand).

Said landlord gave us no notice before spraying. He knows very well how we feel about chemical applications such as Roundup. He is completely unapologetic, and believes it was his right, and that he did nothing wrong. He believes that it was "implied" that we should be taking care of any area we use, and this, as we have come to understand through this incident, includes weeding (he thought we were just avoiding it, although he never communicated any of this). However, weeding the recently sprayed areas was never explicitly talked about. He specifically asked us to weed another area we use, and we did it promptly.

Thanks in advance for all your input, I look forward to it. Such a knowledgeable bunch!

[jryeo]

Sorry to hear about the invasion of your organic garden. We had some herbicide drift hit an organic farm I worked at, and it caused a big stink.

I'm assuming your garden is not "USDA Certified," as this involves a cost and paperwork and is generally only done by commercial growers who want to legally be allowed to advertise as organic. If you were certified organic, you might have some legal foundation.

Firstly, be grateful it was just glyphosate and not one of the nasties. Your soil microbes will gobble up that stuff in a couple days.

Regarding the legal aspect, let me state my qualifications. I am a certified professional soil scientist, and also hold a qualified applicator certificate from the California department of pesticide regulation. I have studied some aspects of pesticide law in order to hold this certificate, however I don't have inclusive knowledge of the subject. My work with pesticides is limited to agricultural trials to determine which are the most benign pesticides that are effective.


The text on a pesticide label outlines the laws which regulate use of that pesticide, so I read the Roundup label regarding posting requirements. In a non-agricultural setting, the applicator is responsible to "Keep people and pets off the treated area until the spray solution has dried."

For agricultural purposes, the area must be posted with signs indicating a restricted-entry interval (REI) of 4 hours. Most products sprayed in commercial agriculture these days have a REI of 24 hours, so the short REI is an indication of the low toxicity of glyphosate.

Only the nastiest of the nastiest pesticides require a notification in advance of the application.

Anyway, I completely sympathize with you on the issue but I don't think your landlord violated any laws.

[The A Team]

What I've done in situations where neighbors or the City of SR wanted to spray Roundup is to offer to weed or mow in lieu of them spraying. Also, put your kind request for no-spray in writing. Also a great tool to have is a weed torch.
Some people will agree, others just firmly believe in better living through chemicals. I had a next door neighbor who came into my yard while we were away and sprayed roundup along the fence line and followed up with gasoline!
Here are some of the hazards of glyphosates.
Monsanto's Glyphosate Problems: Scientist Warns of Dire Consequences with Widespread Use
• Scientist warns of dire consequences with widespread use of glyphosate 
By Ken Roseboro, ed. 
The Organic and Non-GMO Report, Posted June 14, 2010 
Straight to the Source 

The December/January 2010 issue of The Organic & Non-GMO Report featured an interview with Robert Kremer, an adjunct professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri, whose research showed negative environmental impacts caused by glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, which is used extensively with Roundup Ready genetically modified crops.

The following interview is with another scientist, Don Huber, who recently retired from Purdue University, who has also documented negative environmental impacts from glyphosate. To Subscribe to the Non-GMO Report call 1-800-854-0586 or visit The Organic & Non-GMO Report | Information to ensure a safe, healthy, and sustainable food supply

The widespread use of glyphosate is causing negative impacts on soil and plants as well as possibly animal and human health. These are key findings of Don Huber, emeritus professor of plant pathology, Purdue University.

Compromise agricultural sustainability, animal and human health

In a paper published in the European Journal of Agronomy in October 2009, Huber and co-author G.S. Johal, from Purdue's department of botany and plant pathology, state that the widespread use of glyphosate that we see today in agriculture in the United States can "significantly increase the severity of various plant diseases, impair plant defense to pathogens and diseases, and immobilize soil and plant nutrients rendering them unavailable for plant use." Further, the authors state that glyphosate stimulates the growth of fungi and enhances the virulence of pathogens such as Fusarium and "can have serious consequences for sustainable production of a wide range of susceptible crops." The authors warn "ignoring potential non-target detrimental side effects of any chemical, especially used as heavily as glyphosate, may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious. To do otherwise might well compromise not only agricultural sustainability, but also the health and well-being of animals and humans."

Sorry to hear about the invasion of your organic garden. We had some herbicide drift hit an organic farm I worked at, and it caused a big stink...Only the nastiest of the nastiest pesticides require a notification in advance of the application. ...Anyway, I completely sympathize with you on the issue but I don't think your landlord violated any laws.

[jryeo]

Hello A-Team
I suggest you re-read that article. It is a research review summary article, not peer-reviewed original findings of Hubers research.

The overwhelming body of evidence indicates glyphosate is an incredibly benign pesticide which has somewhat lead to a lack of ongoing scrutiny.

Huber cites several studies indicating several studies indicating negative effects of glyphosate to support the general theme that glyphosate should not fall out of scientific scrutiny. I don't think the articles he cites have been sufficiently replicated by other researchers to become established results in the scientific community.

I completely agree that all pesticides should be highly scrutinized, which is exactly what Huber says. He does not, however, provide overwhelming documentation that glyphosate causes widespread environmental degradation.

These are key findings of Don Huber, emeritus professor of plant pathology, Purdue University.

[Speak2Truth]

I cannot answer the legal question but I sympathize greatly. Same thing happened to me some years back. The veggie plants were sprouting, looking good, and the landlord sprayed roundup. I had been pulling the weeds to keep the area clear but he just wanted to "make sure". Destroyed my veggies. Awful. I think I know how you feel.

But that's not nearly as bad as the gophers!! ARRRRGGGHHH!!! One morning I came to the garden to see a row of empty holes where the lettuce plants had been. Protruding from the last hole was the tip of a lettuce plant, jiggling to and fro as the gopher devoured it from below. Looked like a freakin' Bugs Bunny cartoon! I suddenly understood Bill Murray in "Caddy Shack". IT WAS WAR!