Pesticides and Disease

* New research pointing to a possible link between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease validates citizens’ concern that we examine with greater care any chemical that is released into our atmosphere--especially near our homes, schools and workplaces.

Our young people in Ventura County are extremely vulnerable, with active agricultural fields right up to the borders of school grounds. In the case of Rio Mesa High School, the Environmental Working Group states that more than 100,000 pounds of pesticides prohibited from use in organic farming were used within 1 1/2 miles of the school in 1995--and the chemical use is increasing at an alarming rate. Young people and employees are surrounded on all four sides--all but guaranteeing pesticide drift onto the campus.

Such proximity of schools to farms that spray a variety of chemicals already linked to cancer, neurological impairment and birth defects is perfectly legal in Ventura County. What kind of legacy is this for the future of our county? And what is the bottom line for our children?

EUGENE D. HUBBARD

Oxnard