Mary Wassick came home on July 31, 2018, to find a work order for pesticide spraying tucked under the door of her now former Gorham property. The problem was, she had not authorized spraying for mosquitoes and ticks. Her neighbor had.
“I remember just being really angry that my yard was sprayed with something that I had no idea what it was,” Wassick said. “Whatever they used was killing bees, and I was finding dead bees on my staircase for multiple days afterward.”
Now, because of errors like this, the board regulating pesticide use in Maine is considering stiffer penalties for companies that repeatedly violate pesticide rules.
It wasn’t the first time the pesticide service company, Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine, had sprayed the wrong lawn and was facing a penalty. When Wassick called the regulatory Maine Board of Pesticides Control, her complaint added to two previous sets of violations that included employees not spraying correctly, keeping incomplete records and pesticides drifting onto others’ property due to wind and misapplication.
More than 6.2 million pounds of yard care pesticides were brought into Maine in 2007 — a sevenfold increase since 1995 that coincided with the explosion of yard care companies in Maine, according to the most recent figures from the pesticide board. The trend fell to 5.7 million pounds in 2011 when Mainers turned to more organic lawn care companies, according to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.
Additional pressure to cut pesticide use is coming from a 2021 law in Maine forbidding pesticides containing intentionally added per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, from being sold in Maine starting in 2030. Some 55 different types of forever chemicals were found in the more than 1,400 pesticides registered for use in Maine, according to a study last year by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit focused on chemical safety. Forever chemicals have been linked to kidney and testicular cancers and low birth weight in humans.
The nonprofit’s revelations caused public concern about the safety of pesticide use at residences across the state, and bolstered resolve among regulators that they be used according to product directions and statutes. According to a list of enforcement actions by the board, the Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine wasn’t alone in having repeat violations.
During a monthly meeting on Oct. 25, pesticide board members noted that most pesticide application companies do follow state regulations for spraying, but Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine had gone too far with repeat violations, and the board needed to do something about it. The company had multiple violations that were settled in 2021 and earlier in 2024.
It was assessed $20,000 in fines for the 2021 infractions, which included Wassick’s unauthorized application. Penalties for the most recent violations, which include misapplication at a property in Gray and complaints of pesticide drift onto neighboring properties in Scarborough, could be significantly higher. Under state statute, repeat infractions in a four-year period carry a $4,000 penalty per violation for commercial applicators, almost triple the amount compared with a single violation.
That’s still a slap on the wrist, according to board members, who said violators treat their fines as a cost of doing business. Board members said they need stronger penalties to keep credibility as a regulator and to protect the companies that follow regulations. They also said they may consider suspending or revoking the license for Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine.
“I think the track record leading up to this is worrisome,” said David Adams, a pesticide board member. He is also president of Dasco Inc., a commercial pesticide application company in Presque Isle. “We’re not talking about a single infraction, an isolated incident. There’s quite a list here.”
The board members asked Alexander Peacock, the director of the board of pesticides, to consider stiffer penalties for repeat offenders, something it plans to discuss at its Dec. 6 meeting.
“I’m not as worried about exactly what the resolution is, but, the idea is, how do you stop it?” Peacock said. ” I’m not sure that I know how we can do that effectively. I don’t know what the underlying institutional changes are that need to happen.”
The board can make routine changes to its rules, but big changes also need approval by the Legislature, according to pesticide board spokesperson Jim Britt. The board still is discussing what changes would make sense to get companies to comply.
Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine owner Erik Hanson did not respond to phone messages and an email asking for his reaction to possible stiffer penalties. Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine, based in Scarborough, is one of two franchises of the brand in Maine. The other location, serving Bangor and Auburn, is based in Glenburn, according to the company’s website. Mosquito Squad is one of 16 home service brands owned by $1 billion parent Authority Brands of Columbia, Maryland.
In an Oct. 21 letter to the board, Hanson responded to the 2024 violations, including the misapplication at Wassick’s former property in Gorham. He said the technician misread the house number. After the incident, he said the company provided more training to its application technicians. Hanson said the company “had zero instances the remainder of the year [2018], which included thousands of applications.”
The board found that Bifen I/T and other chemicals were applied. Bifen I/T contains bifenthrin, one of the most commonly used pesticides on lawns.
Bifenthrin can cause respiratory irritation, skin irritation and dizziness in humans, and convulsions in animals, according to the National Pesticide Information Center. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified bifenthrin as a possible human carcinogen based on studies in mice. The chemical tends to stay in the ground, but storm runoff can get into nearby waterbodies and stunt development of certain fish, according to federal studies.
In explaining itself, the company said Wassick’s house and garage looked similar to her neighbor’s. It attributed the misplaced pesticide spraying “to the location of the mailboxes, to the fact that it was the last application of the day, and to [the technician’s] over-confidence in knowing which property to treat.”
The board said its statutes describe how companies should identify a customer’s property, and Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine violated them. It also breached the statute that requires prior authorization from the property owner to apply pesticides to a property.
In his letter to the pesticide board, Hanson said Mosquito Squad of Southern Maine is now using a natural product in field trials to replace bifenthrin. He said the natural product also might help with drift complaints by neighbors, as will more training of technicians to minimize drift during pesticide applications. If the neighbors continue to complain, the company will consider no longer servicing the customer.
Wassick said she realizes most pesticide application companies comply with rules, but a mistake isn’t easily undone.
“There wasn’t a lot I could do after it was already sprayed,” she said.
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. She may be reached at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation, a fund at the Maine Community Foundation, and donations by BDN readers.
