To: Brian Leahy, Director, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Protect California School Children from Hazardous Pesticides
Given the clear impacts of hazardous agricultural pesticide use near schools — including autism, cancer and reproductive and neurological harms — we call on the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to adopt new regulations limiting pesticide use near schools, including 1-mile buffer zones.
Why is this important?
As a mother raising my kids in California’s agricultural heartland, I was horrified when I learned that my 8-year old son has traces of 50 different hazardous pesticides in his body.
The shocking discovery came when a French TV station recently showed up in my community of Orange Cove in the San Joaquin Valley. They analyzed hair samples from six local children, including my son, and found that all six of the kids had at least 50 pesticides in their hair. And many of these agricultural pesticides have been linked to a host of serious health harms including asthma, cancer, ADHD, autism, neurological disorders, and reduced IQ.
Why did it take a foreign TV station to point out what is happening to rural kids in California? Why isn’t the state doing anything to stop it?
It turns out the California Department of Public Health reported back in 2014 on the massive use of agricultural pesticides near schools – more than half a million pounds of 144 hazardous drift-prone pesticides are applied within a quarter mile of schools in California every year. But the Department of Pesticide Regulation, responsible for protecting California residents from pesticide exposure, still has not acted.
It is time to regulate pesticide use near schools. DPR must:
• Establish protection zones prohibiting use of the most hazardous pesticides – namely, pesticides of public health concern as recognized by the California Department of Public Health, pesticides labeled “Danger-Poison,” and pesticides designated as California-restricted materials – within 1 mile of schools, licensed day care facilities, school bus stops, and known school routes.
• Require that the above 1-mile protection zones be enforced at all times.
• Require notification of schools and licensed day care facilities at least 1 week before any other agricultural pesticides are applied within 1 mile of their properties.
The shocking discovery came when a French TV station recently showed up in my community of Orange Cove in the San Joaquin Valley. They analyzed hair samples from six local children, including my son, and found that all six of the kids had at least 50 pesticides in their hair. And many of these agricultural pesticides have been linked to a host of serious health harms including asthma, cancer, ADHD, autism, neurological disorders, and reduced IQ.
Why did it take a foreign TV station to point out what is happening to rural kids in California? Why isn’t the state doing anything to stop it?
It turns out the California Department of Public Health reported back in 2014 on the massive use of agricultural pesticides near schools – more than half a million pounds of 144 hazardous drift-prone pesticides are applied within a quarter mile of schools in California every year. But the Department of Pesticide Regulation, responsible for protecting California residents from pesticide exposure, still has not acted.
It is time to regulate pesticide use near schools. DPR must:
• Establish protection zones prohibiting use of the most hazardous pesticides – namely, pesticides of public health concern as recognized by the California Department of Public Health, pesticides labeled “Danger-Poison,” and pesticides designated as California-restricted materials – within 1 mile of schools, licensed day care facilities, school bus stops, and known school routes.
• Require that the above 1-mile protection zones be enforced at all times.
• Require notification of schools and licensed day care facilities at least 1 week before any other agricultural pesticides are applied within 1 mile of their properties.