OXNARD : Workers to Learn Danger of Pesticides

An Oxnard-based farm worker advocacy group has won a $1,000 grant to teach agricultural workers the dangers of pesticides and help document cases of worker poisoning.

The money, which the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides awarded to the Oxnard chapter of the California Farmworker Women’s Leadership Project, will be spent on pamphlets and educational programs for field workers who face exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Frances Guzman, a spokeswoman for the group, said most workers are not aware of the dangers they can face when fields are sprayed with pesticides.

“There are a lot of women that get rashes and they don’t know why,” Guzman said. “I’ve heard the employers tell the women that the rash will go away, but oftentimes it doesn’t go away.”

Earlier this month, California Rural Legal Assistance highlighted concerns about pesticide use in Ventura County, expressing outrage over the federal government’s decision to continue to allow growers to use the powerful pesticide Phosdrin. The nerve toxin has been blamed for more acute poisonings of agricultural workers nationwide than any other insecticide currently in use.

Lawyers and farm worker advocates said they hope growing awareness of pesticide dangers will help end the health hazards farm workers often face when they walk onto a freshly sprayed field.

“Hopefully the grant will help us draw more attention to this problem,” Guzman said. “So that if there is a field that’s being sprayed while workers are out there, the people will know that it’s not right.”