MY WIFE and I were cycling along the park connector at Loyang Avenue at about 10.30am on Dec 22 when we had a nasty experience. As we came around a bend, there was a truck spraying large quantities of a chemical, which I suspect to be pesticide, on trees at the side of the road. The wind was blowing in my direction. Even though I stopped about 30m from the truck, the chemical blown by the wind rained down on my wife and me.

The workers on the truck stopped spraying as soon as they saw us. However, it was useless as the wind was already carrying a lot of spray in our direction. We got the chemical all over us, including in our mouths. I believe the workers spraying the plants were from the National Parks Board (NParks), although I did not see any NParks logo on the truck. We could not wash properly until we got home about 45 minutes later as there was nowhere convenient to do so. It thoroughly spoiled what was supposed to be a pleasant day of cycling.

I would like to find out if the chemical used in spraying is hazardous to health in any way. The spraying of the chemicals should be done when there are few people likely to be around and not on a Saturday morning.

The workers on the truck did not have much precautionary equipment. Only the sprayer had a mask on; the others in the truck did not, even though they were in close proximity to the sprayer. Whatever the chemical is, I doubt if prolonged exposure to it can be harmless.

I hope NParks will look into improving the safety of the leaf spraying process so it does not leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Ramesh Govinda Raju

This letter was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 27, 2007.