Advocates rally for advanced pesticide notifications to be posted online
Funding for a statewide system that alerts residents in advance of pesticide spraying has been approved, but advocates say there’s a faster way.
A notification system would allow people to take precautions like closing their windows, sheltering their asthmatic children and not hanging clothes outside to dry. The development of the Pesticide Notification Network will begin around July, but the program won’t launch until January 2024, according to the budget change proposal.
However, advocates across California held in-person and online news conferences Thursday demanding that county agricultural commissioners post online when pesticide spraying will occur. Members of Valley Improvement Projects (VIP), a Modesto-based social and environmental justice nonprofit, stood outside the Stanislaus commissioner’s office.
VIP’s co-founder Bianca Lopez said they hope to disrupt the generations-old “cruel pattern” of pesticide spraying without advanced notification to the public.
“A simple web posting is all that we are asking for … it’s the least our ag commissioner can do to protect us,” she said.
Stanislaus County is home to some of the state’s highest levels of pesticide use, according to the Agricultural Pesticide Mapping Tool. It also shows that between 1991 and 2018, an increasing number of pounds of pesticides have been administered, with 2018 reaching an all-time high of nearly 3 million pounds.
Every year, about 70 million pounds of pesticides are lost to drift, also known as airborne pesticide dust or droplets, reports the National Pesticide Information Center. Pesticide drift can harm farming communities by causing health conditions like cancer, infertility, birth defects, nervous system damage and more, according to Californians for Pesticide Reform.
Growers must provide 24 hours’ notice
Currently, growers must provide the ag commissioner with a notice of intent, which can be submitted by phone, fax, mail, email, online or in person, at least 24 hours before spraying restricted pesticides, according to the budget change proposal. Although the notices can be viewed via a public request, no county provides advance notice to its public.
Lopez believes the notification system she’s advocating for is within the reach of the Stanislaus commissioner’s office. She said VIP can help provide funding for an app developer. Moreover, she said the ag commissioner has plenty of time to post online, given that growers have to provide 24 hours’ notice.
VIP members went into Stanislaus County Ag Commissioner Kamaljit Bagri’s office to deliver a letter and talk about the issue, but she was not available.
Bagri wrote in an email to The Bee that she supports processes that protect the health of the community. She said she also understands that some parties would like to see the notification project happen quickly, but that the process is complex.
“We will continue working closely with the state officials on solutions that best meet the needs of Stanislaus County residents,” she said.
Val Dolcini, director at the Department of Pesticide Regulation, said that over the past year, commissioners have been advocating for a statewide system, which will provide a more uniform way of alerting farm communities vs. 58 counties coming up with individualized plans.
But he agreed with Bagri that the notification system isn’t simple. “There’s really not a set way of submitting these notices of intent,” he said, adding that the department will work with county ag commissioners to develop a more efficient system.
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 10:04 AM.
