The state Assembly passed a law Tuesday that would require farms within a quarter-mile of a school to notify county officials before spraying pesticides.
The intent of Assembly Bill 1864, authored by Assemblyman Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael), is to reduce pesticide exposure among young children, who are particularly affected by the agents carcinogenic.
“Strengthening enforcement of pesticide regulations in school zones is critical to student health, especially in our rural school districts,” Connolly said. “Children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of pesticides, and insufficient enforcement of pesticide regulations disproportionately affects students of color. »
The bill now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
Before the Assembly’s vote Tuesday, Connolly argued that the presence of chemicals near classrooms was a source of anxiety for parents of school-age children living in some of the most rural counties in the state, where schoolyards and farms often border each other.
Last month, a group of teachers and environmental and social justice groups sued Monterey County agricultural officials and state pesticide regulators, alleging they failed to heed the children’s health by allowing several farms to use restricted pesticides near three elementary and secondary schools, whose students are mostly Latino.
Monterey County ranks seventh among California’s 58 counties for the most pesticides applied, with more than 9 million pounds used on 6.5 million acres. Fresno and Tulare counties are ranked first and second, respectively, according to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
A local city councilor called this “environmental racism.”
The California Department of Public Health, the California Environmental Health Monitoring Program and the Public Health Institute released a study in 2014 examining pesticide exposure in 2,511 public schools attended by more than 1.4 million children. ‘students. The study found that Latino students were disproportionately exposed, with 46 percent more likely than their white counterparts to attend schools with the highest exposure to pesticide use.
The report found that children are more prone to exposure due to three factors: being outside more often, their physiological maturity and their size. Exposure rates also differ significantly between counties, primarily due to counties implementing different buffer zones for pesticide use or restricting pesticide use near certain sensitive locations. .
Connolly’s bill would require farmers to submit applications to county agricultural commissioners for permission to use pesticides within a quarter-mile radius of a public or private school.
Californians for Pesticide Reform, a statewide coalition that wants to restrict pesticide use and a supporter of the bill, said pesticide exposure is “linked to acute poisoning and chronic disease, such as cancer, respiratory diseases and developmental disorders in children.
The California Agriculture Commissioners and Sealers Assn., an organization that provides agricultural production regulatory services and opposes the bill, argued that the burden of new enforcement responsibilities would “fall largely on the commissioners agricultural products of the county.
Other opponents include various state and family groups, including the California Blueberry Assn., the California Strawberry Commission and the Olive Growers Council of California.
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