Carolyn McCuan, a 39-year-old marathon runner, had been feeling unusually tired for months when she decided on the afternoon of June 28, 2023, to take a rejuvenating walk along Aliso Viejo’s tree-lined, picturesque Wood Canyon Trail encircling Canyon View Park.
As McCuan approached the entrance of the 12-acre park bordering her home, she spotted a white pickup truck belonging to Irvine-based Mission Landscape Cos. parked along Canyon Vistas.
An ominous red decal with a skull and crossbones that read “DANGER” was plastered to a brown metal box, and a large tank connected to a long orange hose sat in the truck’s bed. At the end of the hose, a landscaper sprayed what appeared to be a chemical onto a steep slope dotted with acacia and live oak trees about 50 feet from McCuan’s backyard.
“I didn’t think anything of it because I had seen these landscaping trucks in our neighborhood and landscapers working in the parks and on the adjacent residential slopes at our homes every day since March 2023,” said McCuan, who owns CTM Medical Consulting and holds a master’s degree in molecular biology from USC.
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However, at that moment, she said, “It finally hit me.” She had no clue what the landscapers were spraying.
Back home after the walk, McCuan emailed Mission Landscape, under contract by the Aliso Viejo Community Association (AVCA), asking what was being sprayed at Canyon View Park.
The following day, after McCuan had spent six hours in her backyard digging up roots and planting native plants for Monarch butterflies, a reply arrived from Mission’s vice president of operations, Jon Cernok. He identified the spray as the weed killer Cheetah Pro.
Cheetah Pro, which contains glufosinate, carries health warnings similar to Roundup, a notorious glyphosate-based herbicide at the center of more than 100,000 lawsuits nationwide resulting in at…
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