Study Warns of Fumigant Near Local Schools

Students at two El Rio schools are potentially more exposed to dangerous levels of the potent pesticide methyl bromide than any others in California, an environmental watchdog group reported Wednesday.

Rio Plaza Elementary and Rio Mesa High School ranked first and second in a statewide survey that measured the amount of the toxic cropland fumigant used each year within 1 1/2 miles of the state’s public and private schools.

Six other Oxnard-area schools rank among the top 25 in the state.

A reflection of a 1995 study, the new analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group was met with skepticism by local school and farm officials.

“I don’t think there’s a problem,” said Yolanda Benitez, superintendent of the Rio School District, which includes Rio Plaza and three other schools cited prominently in the study.

“We are all concerned about the pesticide used on strawberries,” she added. “And we’re very vigilant about following up if a couple of children have the symptoms. But we haven’t had any of that in the 3 1/2 years I’ve been here.”

In a report to be released today in Sacramento, the Environmental Working Group chastised state regulators for allowing California farmers to apply millions of pounds of methyl bromide near classrooms and schoolyards--and called for a wide buffer zone around educational facilities and residential neighborhoods.

“Tens of thousands of California children are at risk from exposure to methyl bromide while attending school, playing on school grounds, or simply living in their neighborhoods near these schools,” said Bill Walker, spokesman for the think tank that focuses primarily on pesticide issues. “And in many cases, these schools are directly abutting treated fields.”

In response, state officials said Wednesday that the potent fumigant poses no health hazard when used properly, as is nearly always the case. Existing buffer zones and other safety precautions protect the public, they said.

It is impossible to determine how much of a health threat the fumigant is because state and county officials rarely monitor school campuses for pesticide vapors, Walker said.

But during the last three years, teachers and parents in Watsonville and Castroville in the Salinas Valley have complained of flu-like symptoms after the pesticide was used on fields nearby.

And in Ventura--after operators of a child-care center complained in 1996 of headaches, stomach aches and dizziness--tests found drifting methyl bromide in levels that averaged 294 parts per billion over a 12-hour period, compared with the state safety standard of 210 parts per billion over 24 hours.

The environmental group backs a new bill by Assemblywoman Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) that would prohibit use of methyl bromide within 1,000 feet of schools and homes, require warnings to neighbors before applications and recommit the state to a federal ban of the pesticide in 2001.

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Currently, the fumigant can be used no closer than 100 feet to schools, homes and other buildings with no notice to neighbors.

The bill is set for a hearing Tuesday before the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.

“This state has completely failed in its responsibility to protect children and families from the harmful effects of methyl bromide,” said Figueroa, whose East Bay district includes flower farmers who use methyl bromide. “This is a toxic gas that causes nerve damage and reproductive problems in women, and in my district we’ve even had schools evacuated because of the misuse of methyl bromide.” In Ventura County, however, school officials have rarely--if ever--complained to the local government agency that enforces pesticide regulations.

“I’m not aware of any [complaints],” said David Buettner, chief deputy agricultural commissioner. “The schools and others are well aware of the requirements and if there were problems they would have contacted me.”

The Rio district’s Benitez said she thinks there was an incident several years ago when some employees complained of illness during methyl bromide fumigation. Schools put up wind socks so they could tell when there might be vapor drift. And farmers agreed to fumigate after school or on weekends.

“The growers have been very responsive,” she said.

State pesticide regulators discounted the significance of the new study and said no new guidelines are needed.

“We certainly hold up our science against their science, and our buffer zones are based on extensive testing,” said Veda Federighi, spokeswoman for the state Department of Pesticide Regulation. “We would never allow people to be exposed to unsafe levels of methyl bromide.”

The statewide minimum buffer between fields treated with methyl bromide and schools and homes was expanded last year from 30 feet to 100 feet, Federighi said, not because the 30-foot buffer was unsafe, but out of an abundance of caution.

The proposed 1,000-foot buffer is unnecessary and not based on science, she said.

“Our buffer is based on the typical kind of exposures that you would find with use of methyl bromide,” she said. “We find an acceptable safety level, then lower it 100-fold to ensure an adequate margin of safety.”

In one 1997 case, where state monitors ringed a Watsonville school because of parent concerns, levels of methyl bromide were all within safety guidelines on campus, she said.

“Our buffer zones were more than adequate,” she said.

Methyl bromide is a highly volatile soil fumigant that farmers consider invaluable. It is most commonly used in strawberry fields, but also on almonds, vegetables, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce, in plant nurseries and to fumigate crops for export.

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In strawberry fields, it is injected about 18 inches into the soil, then covered with a plastic tarp for at least five days to contain the chemical’s toxic fumes. It is used on about 5,100 acres of strawberries in Ventura County, for example.

The chemical will be banned nationwide in 2001 because it depletes the Earth’s ozone layer. A California ban because of safety concerns was sidestepped in 1996 after Gov. Pete Wilson, citing job and economic losses, asked the Legislature to extend the chemical’s use.

Still, about 18 million pounds of methyl bromide--a near record level--was used by farmers in 1995, the last year for which data are available.

In addition, the environmental group’s new study found that amounts totaling about 2.4 million pounds were applied within 1 1/2 miles of 758 California schools--and that 73,000 students attended the 107 schools where use exceeded 10,000 pounds a year.

Of the 13 schools where applications were heaviest--at least 50,000 pounds a year within a 1 1/2 mile radius--five were near Salinas in Monterey County and four were in the Oxnard area of Ventura County.

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By region, the heaviest use close to schools was 360,000 pounds near 21 schools in Monterey County, 336,000 pounds near 45 schools in Ventura County and 221,000 pounds near 15 schools in Santa Cruz County.

There were also heavy applications in the farm counties of Stanislaus, Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin and Tulare, and in Santa Barbara and San Diego counties.

About one-third of the 758 schools are within half a mile of the fumigated fields, and many are right across the street, Walker said.

“Methyl bromide use near schools poses a health threat to children because the fumigant is applied as a gas, and even when applied under the tightest restrictions, routinely drifts off treated fields after application,” the report says.

Air monitoring in Ventura, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties has found concentrations of the pesticide outside state-mandated buffer zones as high as 10 times the state’s 24-hour safety standard, the report said.

The zones have been “repeatedly shown to be inadequate to protect the public from exposure,” the report says.

Even state officials are backing efforts to find alternatives to methyl bromide because it is so dangerous, Federighi said.

“It is very toxic and very unforgiving of mistakes,” she said. “So we’ve been encouraging people to look for alternatives for several years.”

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Heaviest Use

Here is a look at the heaviest methyl bromide use within 1 1/2 miles of California’s public and private schools. The figures are based on 1995 applications of the toxic fumigant.

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Pounds of methyl bromide School City within 1 1/2 miles Rio Plaza Elementary Oxnard 79,517 Rio Mesa High School Oxnard 67,492 Pajaro Middle School Watsonville 67,354 Suisun Valley Elementary Suisun 59,988 Frank Paul Elementary Salinas 59,725 Barton Elementary Salinas 59,725 Mt. Toro High School Salinas 59,725 Rio Lindo Elementary Oxnard 55,569 Linda Vista Jr. Academy Oxnard 53,920 South San Joaquin Christian Delano 51,080 St. Michael’s Academy San Clemente 51,053 Santa Rita Elementary Salinas 50,667 Gavilan View Middle School Salinas 50,667 Alisal High School Salinas 49,410 La Joya Elementary Salinas 47,702 Renaissance High La Selva Beach 47,565 Macquiddy Elementary Watsonville 47,506 Salsipuedes Elementary Watsonville 42,579 Our Lady of Guadalupe Elementary Oxnard 41,642 St. John’s Lutheran Elementary Oxnard 41,642 Tunnell Elementary Santa Maria 40,425 Rio Del Valle Junior High Oxnard 39,525 Rio Real Elementary Oxnard 39,525 Union Elementary Visalia 38,980 Ohlone Elementary Watsonville 36,198

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Source: Environmental Working Group