Residents Accused of Poisoning Homes

A Louisiana agriculture official is accusing some residents of his state of having their homes sprayed with a potentially deadly cotton-field pesticide to take advantage of a federal offer to renovate contaminated homes. The Environmental Protection Agency has set aside $50 million to clean up more than 1,000 homes along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast contaminated by methyl parathion. Louisiana Agriculture Secretary Bob Odom said publicity about the contamination in Mississippi prompted widespread use of the pesticide by Louisiana homeowners wanting money to renovate their homes. Officials wouldn’t say how many of 190 Louisiana homes tainted by the chemical were deliberately sprayed. Three people in New Orleans have been charged with illegally selling or spraying the pesticide, which attacks the central nervous system.