How to Prove Pesticide Drift Caused Damage

I live in Hailey, Idaho, a community south of Sun Valley and Ketchum, Idaho. It is a very narrow valley and the spraying done by individual families and major landscaping companies is horrifying. So too are the mounting cases of cancer in adults, children, dogs and cats. Idaho has no laws for signage or notification and it is state mandated to spray for noxious weeds along public thoroughfares. There are laws however, that specifically state that spraying in winds over 8 mph is a violation. I have called in landscapers who have sprayed over a block away in 20 to 30 mph winds causing pesticide/herbicide poisoning to anyone who walks into the drift. I called my State Agricultural Agent in Twin Falls (80 miles away.) He visited the next day, took soil samples, testimony from me and another neighbor and investigated the infraction. He is very serious about his job and said he could be in Hailey in 45 minutes if I saw anyone spraying in such violation again. The applicator at fault was not insured, properly licensed or wearing protective clothing. I kept a detailed timeline, date, time, wind speeds the local airport has those on record) and the fellow’s company was given a stern warning. None of the neighbors, except one nurse with three young children, had the imbecile return. I might add that the neighbor behind the three yards being sprayed had recently been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and had a severe respiratory attack two days after the spraying incident and was hospitalized for a month. He did not pursue the spraying as a cause of his pulmonary fibrosis but it certainly helped trigger his decline and hospitalization. Be prepared to write a testimony paper. I found it well worth the time and effort.