Pesticide incidents in the San Joaquin Valley is a topic covering the justice and health issues of people living in the San Joaquin Valley resulting from the use of pesticides in the region. Pesticide use in the San Joaquin Valley began in the 1880s when certain insects were known to be causing harm in the region, much of whose economy is still based on the successful agriculture and farming of many different kinds of crops. Pesticide illnesses were reported sporadically during that time frame but were not focused as a major issue until the post-World War II agricultural boom in the late 1940s when pesticide poisonings became more widely publicized. Though Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and the use of chemicals in weapons during the Vietnam War led the federal government to pass restrictions on pesticide use, residents, primarily of low income, have struggled with the health impacts of pesticide use due to persistent over-spraying by agriculture companies working for profit.
Background Since California became a state in 1850, the production of agriculture has been a key part of the economy and appeal, especially in the Central Valley. Farms were established in the area because of its temperate climate with warmer elements for its latitude and advertisements showing the supposed quality of produce grown in this climate. However, insects harming growing crops became a problem as early as the 1880s. Pesticides were introduced in the San Joaquin Valley around this time and by 1900 were regulated by a state agency, the Department of Agriculture. This department published incidents of pesticide poisonings and accidents as a record of occupational health in the workplace fields. At the time, health was viewed through the germ theory of disease, rather than focusing on the environment, and pesticide poisonings were not seen as a major issue.
In the late 1940s, however, a population boom after World War II demanded more agriculture, and California was growing more crops such as grapes which required more pesticides. By 1963, more than 16,000 different kinds of pesticide had been registered in the state. Reports of pesticide poisonings like a 1949 incident in the city of Marysville became more common. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, published in 1962, prompted the public to question the safety of pesticides, but major incidents of poisonings like 1963 and 1967 northern San Joaquin Valley peach farmers had continued. Awareness about the dangers of pesticides led to the formation of the United Farm Workers in 1964. Federal hearings on pesticide safety began in 1969 and safety laws began to be passed in the 1970s as well as the Delaney Amendment which prohibited carcinogens in food supply. This coincided with the shift of health concerns to focus on the local environment. The effects of pesticides continue to be a problem for many people living in California's San Joaquin Valley.
Effects and response Pesticides in the San Joaquin Valley contain many different chemicals that can be harmful to human health. "The health risk to people depends on the toxicity of the pesticide and the amount of exposure." These chemicals include DDT and organophosphates such as TEPP syntox, EPN, parthion, metam sodium, and methomyl. Chemicals that are known to cause acute pesticide poisoning are organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethrins and pyrethroids, arsenicals, fumigants, anti-coagulants, and bipyridilium. They can enter the human body through direct contact by way of the skin including through the contact of plants with pesticide residue, over spraying of farm fields, inhaling pesticide residue in the air during pesticide drifts, and eating foods contaminated with pesticide residue. Being exposed through ingestion is usually due to carelessness. Accidental ingestion occurs mostly because pesticides are taken from the original container and put into a new, unlabeled bottle, such as a food container. In this case, children get ahold of them. One-half of the accidental pesticide ingestion fatalities were caused due to this and they all involved children under the age of ten years old. If these pesticides were stored properly, children wouldn't be able to gain access, thus, potentially saving them from the harm. There are both chronic and acute effects from pesticide exposure that have been known to occur in the San Joaquin Valley. Observed chronic causes include birth defects, miscarriages, sterility, neurological effects, and child developmental impairments. Observed acute causes have been rashes in the eyes and on the skin. One study also showed pesticides containing ziriam were correlated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. Fish that are part of the food supply for many people were also found to be killed, with certain mixes of OPs being more toxic than others when pesticide contaminated waters of the San Joaquin Delta were tested in a lab with titans. People most at risk involve workers who manufacture the chemicals, and applicators exposed to high levels of pesticides over many years. They run the greatest risk of developing any chronic effects. "Applicators who do not follow label directions and fail to wear protective equipment increase their risk of developing chronic effects." Children are at the highest risk of accidentally ingesting these chemicals.
In specific incidents, dizziness and nausea were found in a 1988 case in the southern valley town of Delano, where two of the 54 farmworkers who fell ill were unconscious after a field was sprayed with methomyl. Pesticides were also a suspected cause in a cancer cluster affecting 13 children in the town of McFarland due to inhalation of chemicals between 1975 and 1988. Pesticide regulation has been difficult due to the power of companies that profit from pesticide use and fears of their prosecution or losing their support.
When pesticide regulations were enacted in the 1970s, the United States federal government set tolerance levels on pesticide known to cause cancer sprayed on foods, but the EPA still authorized chemical testing that was not complete. After the McFarland cancer reports appeared, Governor George Deukmjian vetoed a bill requiring warning signs for pesticides in yards and farms, in effect supporting pesticide sprayers.
In 1999, the town of Earlimart in Tulare County was hit with pesticide drift from metam sodium drifting into fields. The sprayers were fined $150,000, but use of the dangerous chemical did not stop. There has also historically been racial prejudice in assessing pesticide concerns in the San Joaquin Valley. Many of the farmworkers who came to work in California fields were immigrants or braceros coming from Mexico and Latin America. Pesticide exposure was originally studied to be complex in which certain actions like wearing heavy protective gear would defend people against pesticide poisoning. Many of these workers were directly sprayed and had little knowledge of the kinds of pesticides they were being exposed to. In addition, doctors would see cases related to workers' pesticide concerns and diagnose it as heat stroke instead. This led people to believe that immigrant workers' own habits contributed to their frequent illnesses, and not necessarily pesticide exposure.
Pesticide exposure in the San Joaquin Valley has continued to disproportionately affect low income farm families of color who make less than $10,000 per year (1991) in income. Response to the issue has largely gotten attention by way of lawsuits, such as one against a San Joaquin County helicopter company called Alpine Helicopter Service. Beginning in 2013, the company repeatedly sprayed pesticides, including near a children's sports facility, and failed to comply with the state's health and safety codes. Nonprofit organizations such as the Central Valley Air Coalition have consulted with state and local agencies such as the Fresno County Farm Bureau on protection for residents against pesticide use, such as establishing buffer zones and finding alternatives to pesticides to protect crops.
Pesticide controversies
McFarland cancer cluster
From 1975 to 1996, the city of McFarland in Kern County reported 21 of its children as being diagnosed with cancer, which is three times higher than average, given that McFarland had a population of around 8,000 at the beginning of the cancer cluster. As reports of cancer cases began to increase, local residents pointed fingers at the pesticides which were commonly used on farms in the area. News outlets such as the Los Angeles Times began to take notice and started reporting on the situation. Because of the severity of the cancer cluster and the amount of attention the it was receiving, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) launched an investigation into the incident. The USDHHS performed a multitude of tests on households, the surrounding areas, the air, and waterways, but found nothing conclusive that could point to pesticides as being the cause of the high cancer incidence.CDC. (n.d.). Health Consultation - Centers for Disease Control and ... Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/McFarlandStudyArea/McFarlandHC032006.pdf . Pesticide companies were quick to defend themselves after the report came out because as the report stated there was no indication that pesticides were at fault. This event remains controversial and many are still divided on whether or not pesticides played a bigger role that may have gone unnoticed despite the investigation by the USDHHS.
Alpine Helicopter Service Incidents 2013-2020
Alpine Helicopter Service is a Lodi CA based company that sprays pesticides over large farm areas. From 2013 to 2020 Alpine had been directly involved in causing a multitude of pesticide drift incidents. Pesticide drift involves the migration of pesticide particles into non-regulated areas through the air. Aerial application is the application method that most regularly causes pesticide drift, being the cause of 39% of drift incidents. Aerial application in the Central Valley involves crops such as cotton and alfalfa, and these crops were sprayed with chlorpyrifos. These drift incidents ended up endangering the health of people in the residential areas close to the location where the pesticides were dispersed and created crop loss and damage for nearby farms. In 2014, Alpine Helicopter Services participated in a spraying on two Delta Islands that caused severe crop loss while also spraying bystanders with the herbicides. In one instance, pesticides drifted into a special education school called Turner Academy after a nearby walnut orchard was sprayed by the Alpine Helicopter Service company (April 2017). Several parts of the school were covered in the pesticide particles, ranging from the school's playground to the sidewalks. In another instance, pesticides sprayed over a pumpkin field drifted over to the Stockton Sports Complex while children were playing soccer (September 7, 2019). On this day, winds blew at speeds of 17 miles per hour, and these high-speed winds blew pesticide particles over the sports complex, which ultimately put the health of the children and their families at risk. In one incident, a woman was sprayed by pesticides as the Alpine helicopters distributed the chemicals overhead, which then drifted onto her backyard (July 2020).