COUNTYWIDE : Farmers Oppose Pesticide Measure

A number of Ventura County farmers have joined a campaign against an initiative sponsored by environmentalists that would ban the use of certain pesticides in California over the next five years.

The initiative, called Big Green by proponents, is being sponsored by environmentalists and Democratic leaders Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and Assemblyman Tom Hayden of Santa Monica.

Supporters say the measure would ban 32 of 300 pesticides determined by the Environmental Protection Agency to cause birth defects and cancer, spokeswoman Liberty Godshall said.

It would also restrict the importation of produce that had been sprayed with those chemicals and provide $40 million for research into alternatives to pesticide use.

An alternative initiative has been drafted by an organization of grocers, farmers and agricultural businessmen called Californians for Responsible Food Laws.

Lee Stitzenberger, a Los Angeles political consultant who heads the farmers’ campaign, said sponsors of the farmers’ initiative are prepared to spend between $750,000 and $1 million on a statewide campaign.

Stitzenberger said 372,000 signatures are needed by the May 27 deadline to put the initiative on the ballot. So far, the growers’ group says, it has gathered about 300,000 signatures, about 1,500 in Ventura County.

“We’re going to find that the ag interests in the state are going to mobilize,” said Clark Johnson, a Fillmore citrus grower. He said petitioners have targeted supermarkets, nurseries and farming supply stores.