Any company that applies insecticides, herbicides, or any restricted pesticide needs to comply with state and local notification rules. Rules vary by state, county and municipality, with business owners liable for fines or sanctions if a company or its workers fail to follow regulations.

Dec. 31 is the deadline to sign up for Connecticut?EUR??,,????'???s Pesticide Pre-Notification Registry, which requires lawn and tree care firms to notify people who sign up if they are applying pesticides to neighboring properties.

In Wisconsin, a commercial lawn care or landscape company is required to notify residents at least 12 hours before applying the pesticides to neighboring yards. A company can notify residents by telephone, deliver a notice or via mail notices.

“Pesticides are designed to be toxic. If it’s an insecticide, it’s designed to kill insects; if it’s an herbicide, it’s designed to kill weeds. These things do have health effects,” said Nancy Alderman, president of Environment & Human Health Inc. at Yale University.

“The reason why the registry is important is because you can get your children and pets in the house before they apply pesticides, especially when they spray” trees, she said.

Under the Connecticut law, homeowners on the registry must be given advance notice before insecticide, fungicide or herbicide is applied outdoors to an adjacent property by a lawn or tree care business.

Bradford Robinson, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s pesticide program supervisor, said the legislature created the registry in 1991. About 250 people sign up for it each year.

Sources: Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc., Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection