Ag Commissioner and Pesticide Use

Why does Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail continually disregard and deny data generated from groups outside his agency?

California Public Interest Research Group conducted independent studies indicating the amount of pesticides used in Ventura County and the number of people living near farms that use contaminants and carcinogenic pesticides. In response to CalPIRG’s reports, the agricultural commissioner’s office stated that those reports are not allowed to influence its work. Why can’t scientific reports be influential to McPhail if they contain information pertinent to Ventura County’s residents?

McPhail needs to make the health of Ventura County residents his No. 1 priority. The population is growing, which translates into more health risk concerns and a need for stricter enforcement of pesticide-use regulations. Reports issued by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation reveal that McPhail’s office has failed to meet many of the state’s minimum standards for pesticide-use enforcement. DPR has also stated that the agricultural commissioner’s office is improperly filling out pesticide inspection documents and failing to appropriately enforce violations.

As citizens we cannot allow McPhail to have such blatant disregard for our community’s health and state pesticide regulations. If our agricultural commissioner is not enforcing pesticide-use laws who is? Nobody!

STEPHANIE VANG

Ojai

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