Courtesy photo of first State public hearing on pesticide notification in Turlock, July 12, 2024.
SHAFTER, CA. — Dozens of farmworkers and their allies — Coalition Advocating for Pesticide Safety 805, based in Ventura County — held a news conference and rally on July 23 prior to a California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) hearing on plans for a statewide pesticide notification system.
The news conference, “It’s Not Notification Without Location,” sponsored by the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment (CRPE) and Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) was held outside the site of the DPR hearing, Shafter Youth Center. CRPE, CPR and allies are concerned that DPR’s current draft plans will not serve the community without the exact address or farm location of the pesticide application.
Farmworker communities across California are demanding to know before-hand what, when, and where hazardous pesticides will be applied. They want to be able to take safety precautions against exposure to drifting pesticides. Currently, State and County regulators only reveal pesticide information after they’ve already been applied.
DPR is holding in Shafter one of only two in-person hearings across California about plans for a statewide web-based pesticide notification system. The first was held in Turlock on July 12th, where about 40 people gave oral comments, 37 of which called for exact location. On July 15, DPR held an online public hearing where 70 people gave public comments, 67 of them in favor of exact location in the upcoming pesticide notification system.
DPR received $10 million from the State to create the notification program, which it plans to implement in the first quarter of 2025.
“Since exposure to even the tiniest amounts of pesticides can cause permanent harm — like cancer, brain damage, and asthma — and these pesticides can drift for miles at harmful levels, this is a public health issue for everybody who lives in the San Joaquin Valley,” said CPR San Joaquin Valley Environmental Justice Coordinator, Cristina Gutierrez.
“It’s not notification without location.”
After years of development, DPR has released a near final draft of its statewide online pesticide notification system that does not include the exact location of the pesticide application. Instead, DPR proposes only to reveal restricted material pesticide use within one-square mile of an address. This is the central concern of farmworker communities across the state.
“That means that we still won’t know if the pesticide will be applied behind our house, across the street, next to our children’s school, or even a mile away. The location is still secret. It’s not notification without location!” exclaimed CRPE organizer, Byanka Santoyo.
Scientific research confirms that within a mile the threat of exposure to many pesticides tends to increase the closer one lives to pesticide application sites. A recent meta-review[1] that assessed six studies noted: “All [six studies] found that the greater the distance [from the pesticide application], the lower the levels in pesticide concentrations in dust, outdoor and indoor air.”
“Exactly where the pesticides are coming from matters, because we know we can’t all just ‘shelter-in-place’ like during the worst of the Pandemic, but we can take some actions that scientists tell us reduce risks of pesticide harms, like: shutting windows and doors, taking in the kids’ toys and bringing in clothes off the line, staying indoors if you’re not feeling well or if you have breathing issues like asthma, and keeping pregnant women far away from applications, especially from pesticides that are linked to reproductive and developmental harm, and childhood cancers,” explained Rocio Madrigal of the Central California Environmental Justice Network.