Farmworkers and advocates demand exact location in Statewide Pesticide Notification

July 24, 2024 /

Byanka Santoyo speaks at the news conference on pesticide notification in Shafter, July 23, 2024. Photo courtesy of CPR.

On Tuesday, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) held an official public hearing on its statewide pesticide notification regulation. This regulation draws concerns from community members and environmental organizations as they question whether the current plan will fully serve the community. 

An hour before the start of the DPR meeting, the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment (CRPE) and Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) sponsored a public conference for dozens of farmworkers and their allies outside the DPR office to express their concern that the current DPR draft plans will not serve the community without announcing the exact address or farm location of the pesticide application.

“It’s not notification without location,” was echoed throughout the meeting.

Farmworker communities across California call for advance notice about the application of hazardous pesticides, including details on what, when, and where these pesticides will be used. This information is crucial for them to take necessary safety precautions against pesticide drift. 

Presently, State and County regulators disclose pesticide information only after the pesticides have already been applied.

“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.

DPR has spent years developing a “near-final” draft of its statewide online pesticide notification after receiving $10 million from the State. The department plans to implement the system in the first quarter of 2025.

However, this draft doesn’t include the exact location of the pesticide application. Instead, DPR proposed to reveal only restricted material pesticide use within one square mile of an address, which is drawing concern from 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.

DPR’s meeting in Shafter yesterday was one of only two in-person hearings across the state about plans for the department’s web-based notification system. The first meeting was held on July 12 in Turlock.

A press release sent by CPR shared that during the July 12 meeting, about 40 people gave oral comments, and 37 of these comments called for exact location. Additionally, on July 15, DPR held an online public hearing where 70 people gave public comments and 67 of them were in favor of the exact location in the pesticide notification system.

Yesterday’s hearing had more than 150 people in attendance and while not all had time to speak, 52 out of 60 total public comments requested exact locations for notifications. 

“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.

DPR will receive comments on the statewide pesticide notification plan through August 1, 2024, at dpr23003@cdpr.ca.gov.

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Victoria Rodgers

Victoria Rodgers is an editor and reporter for Kern Sol News. Born in Bakersfield, CA, she received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Rockford University in Illinois. She can be reached at victoria@southkernsol.org.