Safe Strawberry Working Group calls for overhaul of pesticide monitoring and reporting.

Monterey County is Ground Zero for most tonnage of pesticides used and the largest number of schools in proximity to fields treated with pesticides. Recent studies describe the major presence of pesticide residues from California’s conventional agriculture in soil, groundwater and air – so-called “drift” from fumigants and topical applications of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.

Schools adjacent to conventional ag fields are specifically singled out in a recent California Environmental Health Tracking Program study.

That study found developmental and reproductive toxins affect children’s ability to develop normally in utero and early childhood. They also impair reproductive functions in adults, resulting in infertility, miscarriages and prematurity. Certain fumigants used in Monterey County block the breakdown of the enzyme that regulates nerve cell activity, causing weakness, dizziness, headaches, learning difficulties, vomiting, staggering and convulsions. Long-term exposure to even low levels of carcinogens in fumigants can cause cancer.

It gets worse. The standards enforced by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation are often seriously out of date. Pesticides registered as safe 30-plus years ago were not subject to current scientific standards.

Buffer zones for various chemical applications in most California counties are a quarter-mile, but Monterey County’s Ag Commissioner has deemed 400 feet sufficient.

DPR’s job is to provide state-of-the-art testing for safety and efficacy of the more than 5,000 pesticide/fumigant active ingredients found in the chemicals put onto our fields.

Starting with a review of the most heavily used chemicals seems like the best idea. Officials need to address disparities in the sizes of buffer zones in various counties. They need to ensure posting on fields in advance of pesticide applications, with the following information: dates of application, names of toxicants being used, date it’s presumed workers can safely return, signs and symptoms of exposure to the particular toxicant and numbers for emergency treatment in several languages.

Enforcement efforts must be routine, not random.

Safe Strawberry Monterey County, a volunteer group, helped fight off the fumigant methyl iodide in 2012. The manufacturer withdrew U.S. distribution entirely. Now we are tackling chlorpyrifos and methyl bromide in particular. With Californians for Pesticide Reform (www.cpr.org), a resolution is being presented to county agencies and offices, and public discussions are planned throughout the county in 2015.

Safe Strawberry Monterey County calls for a systematic review by DPR of pesticides using current scientific standards. We need more transparency.

The lives of California workers and their families are already suffering the damage caused.

CAROLE ERICKSON is a member of the Safe Strawberry Monterey County Working Group.