The Department of Pesticide Regulation invites the public to weigh in on the pesticide 1,3-D.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is hosting public hearings on draft regulation for the use of the pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene, also known as 1,3-D or “Telone.”

The pesticide’s history is enmeshed in controversy. Manufactured by Dow Chemical, it has been shown to cause tumors in rodents, is classified as a carcinogen, and is banned in 40 countries. Debate over its use has varied over the years – from being banned in California in 1990 due to concerns over extremely high levels found near a school in Merced County, to being permitted in restricted amounts four years later. For about a decade, scientists with the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) have clashed with DPR over the human health risks the fumigant poses.

“These strawberry fields are right next to schools where children are attending,” says Yanely Martinez, an organizer with Californians for Pesticide Reform. “As a Latina, that breaks my heart that nobody else is wanting to call it what it is – this is environmental racism.”

Primarily used on strawberry fields and other row crops, the chemical saw statewide usage decline more than 20 percent between 2018 and 2022, yet increase by over 80 percent in Monterey County during the same period, according to an analysis by Inside Climate News.

CPR members are advocating for DPR to adopt OEHHA’s recommendations, arguing that the draft regulation relies on faulty assumptions about farmworkers’ exposure.

“We’re already losing community members that have died because of cancer, kids are at the hospital because of asthma attacks,” Martinez says. “We’re going to continue to push until hopefully [DPR] decides to go with the other 40 countries that have decided to say, wait a minute, we need to protect our community over profit.”

DPR’s hearing on 1,3-D takes place at 5:45pm Thursday, Jan. 16. National Steinbeck Center, 1 Main St., Salinas.