Deadly Pesticide Evicts Homeowners

The exterminator Denise Wainwright hired to spray her mobile home 2 1/2 years ago got rid of the roaches, but the chemical left a strong odor and caused her walls and carpet to yellow.

She also noticed dead birds in the yard.

“A moth flew in and fell right to the floor,” she recalled.

The family cat died.

Wainwright herself started vomiting, feeling dizzy and fatigued, but the 45-year-old former bus driver blamed her diabetes.

Now she knows better.

State health experts say Wainwright’s family and dozens of others across southeastern Mississippi were sickened by a cotton-field pesticide that can kill people when used indoors. In fact, it is so toxic that farmers can’t return to their fields for two days after it is sprayed.

Authorities say two unlicensed exterminators sprayed hundreds of homes with the chemical, methyl parathion, which attacks the central nervous system.

There are no reports of anyone being sick enough to be hospitalized, but state health chief Ed Thompson said the death of a child from a respiratory ailment after the youngster’s home was sprayed is under investigation.

So far, 67 families have been moved into hotels while their homes are decontaminated, and authorities have also closed a motel, a restaurant and six day-care centers.

It will take weeks just to figure out the extent of the contamination, and it could be January before anyone can move back home.

The Environmental Protection Agency calls it one of the nation’s worst cases of pesticide misuse and estimated the cost of the cleanup at $50 million. Carpets, drywall and other porous material may have to be replaced.

Health authorities have told people that their symptoms will disappear once they are away from the chemical.

Federal authorities have charged the exterminators, Paul Walls and Dock Eatman, with illegally applying two pesticides. Eatman could get 23 years in prison and $2.3 million in fines; Walls could be sentenced to 48 years and fined $4.8 million.

The 61-year-old men said they never knew the chemical was so dangerous.

“I sprayed my house,” Walls said. “If I had any idea it was dangerous like these people say it is, I wouldn’t have sprayed my house.”

Eatman’s home was found to be contaminated, but the Pentecostal preacher does not intend to move. Walls chose not to have his home checked.

Wainwright recalled paying Walls $45 for each of about seven visits, about $15 more than Orkin. “He wasn’t cheaper. He was good,” she said.

State authorities began uncovering the misuse last summer after getting complaints about stained floors and walls and strong chemical odors.

Walls and Eatman, who knew each other but ran separate businesses, were arrested Nov. 15 and charged with operating an unlicensed pest-control service. The federal charges came last month.

Authorities say the two men also may have sprayed buildings in Alabama and Louisiana.

A hot line set up for victims is getting about 100 calls daily from people complaining of illnesses ranging from shortness of breath to nervous-system disorders.

James Allen of Pascagoula said headaches, nausea and diarrhea kept him awake at night after his home was sprayed. He and his dog now live in a workshop behind his house. The dog, he said, was gnawing the hair off its legs.

Wilma Hoing, Wainwright’s sister-in-law, noticed yellowing in her Pascagoula home after Walls visited last year. Soon after, Hoing’s 2-year-old grandson became ill with vomiting and diarrhea.

The evacuated families can expect to spend the holidays in hotels.