Farmworkers and their families in California’s strawberry fields face disproportionate exposure to toxic pesticides, risking cancer and other health issues while regulators fail to enforce adequate protections.
Liza Gross and Peter Aldhous report for Inside Climate News.
In short:
- Farmworkers and their families, primarily Latino and Indigenous populations, face severe health risks from pesticides like 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) and chloropicrin, which are linked to cancer and other illnesses.
- California regulators, despite having extensive data, continue to set safety levels that leave vulnerable communities unprotected, with farmworkers often exposed both in the fields and at home.
- Hundreds of schools are located near fields where heavy pesticide applications occur, increasing the risk of exposure for children, who are more vulnerable to these chemicals.
Key quote:
“This is a racist attack on our farmworking communities, and it’s coming not from Trump, but from our own state institution.”
— Yanely Martinez, Californians for Pesticide Reform.
Why this matters:
Pesticides used in California’s lucrative strawberry industry disproportionately harm farmworkers, children, and marginalized communities. This is the underbelly of the Golden State’s agricultural success—a systemic failure to shield its most vulnerable workers from poisons that never seem to drift toward the boardrooms of those profiting the most. Read more: On the frontlines of pesticide exposure.
