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Dairy_Seinfeld t1_je5itu9 wrote

Reply to comment by mah658 in Just watched herbicides get sprayed on the new Fonticello Park playground, no signage was left warning people by mah658

Glyphosate is safer when compared to more industrial herbicides but it’s a toxic irritant to people nonetheless. Regardless, it was unprofessional of both the city and the spray team to not notify the public with signage. “Not a big deal” is not the wording I would use for more reasons than one. But yes—the chemical is not outright carcinogenic, nor immediately deadly.

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mah658 OP t1_je5uztq wrote

Thanks for that explanation. I looked up what the CDC recommends for Glyphosate, and it's clearly stated in bold "Do not let kids or pets play on or touch areas where weed killer has been applied until 24 hours have passed." Regardless of the downvotes, I stand by my comment that I'd be upset if I had kids unknowingly playing in that playground today.

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fusion260 t1_je62e6v wrote

Yes, but think about the context of that advice and where it's coming from: The CDC—a government agency in this case—is being as broadly cautious as possible with that guidance because they know people will ignore it. They're also talking about an ingredient, regardless of its quantity in a given product. They aren't going to provide ratio-specific advice for every application.

24 hours, though, is really overkill; we're not in a rainforest where it takes forever for things to adequately dry out or move deeper into the soil.

Herbicides are typically fine for pets and bare skin—unless someone is highly allergic to it—once it dries or once it rains to get the stuff into the soil and off the blades/leaves.

Example: You (the royal you, as in anyone reading this) buy a hammock and it says "max weight is 250 lbs.," but you might weigh 275 lbs. and think "it's fine, it won't break for being an extra 25 lbs. over." Good news: you're probably right and it will be fine.

The "250 lbs. max weight," according to the manufacturer, is more for their protection against a consumer frivolously suing them because a hammock broke at some point after it's been used. In reality, though, a hammock can typically safely hold a lot more than they say they can because us humans tend to easily put on more weight when we're not paying attention to such things. I've seen two people frequently use a hammock that was, by the label, only designed to be used by one person at a time.

Edit: a word

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mah658 OP t1_je6zn85 wrote

I'm sure you are correct and 24 hours is overkill, but there were kids playing in that park probably 15 minutes later. It's been occupied non-stop as it's only a month old.

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