Some Poison Homes To Get Cleanup Funds

Some Louisiana residents deliberately had their homes sprayed with a dangerous cotton-field pesticide to take advantage of a federal offer to renovate their homes, an agriculture official said Friday.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set aside $50 million to clean up more than 1,000 homes along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast poisoned by methyl parathion, which can kill people when used indoors.

Publicity over the Mississippi case prompted use of the pesticide in Louisiana by homeowners wanting money, Louisiana Agriculture Secretary Bob Odom said. Officials wouldn’t say how many of the 190 tainted homes were deliberately sprayed.

Three people were arrested in New Orleans this week and charged with illegally selling or spraying the pesticide.