Where Pesticides Drift: A Look at Toxic Exposures to Children
As part of National Farmworker Awareness Week, Farmworker Justice recognizes the dangers of pesticides to the health and safety of farmworkers. One of the many problems pesticide use in agriculture poses is pesticide drift. Pesticide drift doesn’t have any real and defined boundaries.
Children are often subjected to pesticide exposure, whether or not they are intentionally near agricultural fields. Houses and schools in rural, agricultural communities frequently border fields exposing families and children to pesticide drift as they engage in their daily routines. The 1993 National Academy of Science study on children’s risks from pesticides found that agricultural pesticide drift can contribute to kids’ overall pesticide exposure and that airborne pesticide residues are generally higher in areas close to agricultural lands. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has also documented harmful exposures to the public from pesticide drift. Many pesticide residues can remain in the water and soil for years, effectively contaminating entire food supply chains.
Farmworker Justice, in addition to a number of other advocates, has filed a petition asking the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remedy ongoing violations of its legal obligations to protect children from unsafe aggregate exposures to pesticides. This petition implores the EPA to protect children from exposure to toxic pesticides that drift from agricultural fields and contaminate areas where children congregate such as schools, homes, parks, and daycare centers.
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As part of National Farmworker Awareness Week, Farmworker Justice recognizes the dangers of pesticides to the health and safety of farmworkers. One of the many problems pesticide use in agriculture poses is pesticide drift. Pesticide drift doesn’t have any real and defined boundaries. Imagine, for a moment, a leafy green field peppered with bright sprays of red undulating far into the distance. Farmworkers are bent close to the ground, their hands quickly and capably plucking the ripe strawberries from their stems, and dropping them into crates at their sides. The field seems almost a blur of movement and color, and then off to the side you see another scene; a blanket is spread along the edge of the rows, strewn with a few toys, books, and three young children. It is summer, and since school is out of session a few of the farmworkers brought their children to play along the edges of the field for the day, since childcare costs more than they are able to afford. Soon you hear a distant buzzing, and then see a small aircraft approaching, lowering itself closer to the field abutting the strawberries. A quick jet of pesticides is released into the air, and you see a fine mist radiating out towards where the children are playing.
Children are often subjected to pesticide exposure, whether or not they are intentionally near agricultural fields. Houses and schools in rural, agricultural communities frequently border fields exposing families and children to pesticide drift as they engage in their daily routines. The 1993 National Academy of Science study on children’s risks from pesticides found that agricultural pesticide drift can contribute to kids’ overall pesticide exposure and that airborne pesticide residues are generally higher in areas close to agricultural lands. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has also documented harmful exposures to the public from pesticide drift. Many pesticide residues can remain in the water and soil for years, effectively contaminating entire food supply chains.
And although all community members can be potentially affected by pesticide drift, children are especially vulnerable to the harsh effects of pesticide residues. Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) reports that “children exposed to pesticides either in utero or during other critical periods face significant health risks including higher incidence of birth defects, neurodevelopmental delays and cognitive impairment, childhood brain cancers, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive-Disorder, and Endocrine disruption.”
Children are also adversely affected by pesticides because of their size and the behaviors they engage in. Because of their smaller stature than adults, they are typically closer to the ground where pesticide residues linger. They take in more breaths per minute than adults and pound for pound eat more fruits and vegetables (which can be laced with pesticide residues) and drink more water (which can be contaminated) on a daily basis. Their curious natures and attempt to make sense of the world encourage children to constantly touch objects and put the objects-or their hands-in their mouths. They also spend a significant amount of time-particularly when they are in the very young and vulnerable stages of their organs and critical systems developing-crawling on floors and playing on the ground.
Farmworker Justice and Earthjustice, on behalf of a coalition of farmworker and public health advocates, filed a petition in 2009 asking the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remedy ongoing violations of its legal obligations to protect children from unsafe aggregate exposures to pesticides. This petition implores the EPA to protect children from exposure to toxic pesticides that drift from agricultural fields and contaminate areas where children congregate such as schools, homes, parks, and daycare centers. While over three-and-a-half years and multiple crop seasons have elapsed, EPA has yet to even respond to the petition much less take action. We urge the EPA to quickly address this public health and environmental justice problem before another season goes by.