State officials are awaiting results of laboratory studies of tissue samples taken from horses that died mysteriously at Gunlock, Washington County, in an incident that local residents think may be related to the county's spraying of herbicide.
But Rodney N. Campbell, district agricultural inspector for the Utah Department of Agriculture, St. George, said that it's possible too much time passed before the horses became ill for spraying to be the cause.Herbicide was sprayed on May 20, he said, and the first horse became ill about May 31. "Normally by that length of time the toxicity's worn off," he said.
But he emphasized that investigators won't know for certain until lab results are available. "Sometimes special situations exist" that cause effects to show up later, he said.
Asked what impact the passage of more than a week might have, Campbell said, "The sunlight and heat, the temperature, have a tendency to break (the herbicide) down."