PHP script launching multiple times

[abracren]

I have a PHP script that launches another script in the background. Recently my host upgraded PHP and this pair relaunches the background script multiple times a second where it should only be launching once.I reduced the two scripts to their most basic form and they still have the problem.start.php:\[code\]<?php exec("/home/s*****/public_html/sandbox/process/pushupdate.php &"); ?>\[/code\]and pushupdate.php:\[code\]#!/usr/bin/php -q<?php mail('*********@gmail.com', 'test output', 'testing'); ?>\[/code\]The email never gets sent, but that may be a problem with my hosting company.