Residents Tell State Regulator of Pesticides’ Harm

His face strained with emotion, middle school teacher John Cort addressed the state’s new director of pesticide regulation in a voice raspy from what he calls years of inhaling the pesticides routinely sprayed on the strawberry fields surrounding his campus.

In 28 years of teaching at Rio Del Valle School in Oxnard, Cort said he has had 11 throat operations.

Another teacher had his larynx removed, he said. Still others are consistently plagued by sore throats and other ailments.

“And none of us have even smoked,” Cort said. “I don’t have any statistics to tell you about. We are the data. We are the statistic.”

Cort was one of more than 50 Ventura County residents who attended a meeting at Mound Elementary School on Saturday to share stories of possible pesticide spray abuses with Paul Helliker, appointed by the governor in April as director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. The Community and Children’s Advocates Against Pesticide Poisoning, a Ventura County group, and Californians for Pesticide Reform, hosted the discussion.

Helliker patiently listened as residents spoke of watching pesticides spread over fields near schools. Others said they saw chemicals sprayed during unregulated periods, such as windy days.

Most had a story of ill health to share. Some spoke of neighbors and loved ones who suffered from everything from asthma to leukemia after what they believe was an overdose of the sprays meant to keep crops bug-free.

As some in the audience wept openly, Helliker pledged to be strong on enforcement.

“The governor is very committed to enforcing the pesticide laws,” said Helliker, adding he was particularly concerned with “pesticide drift.”

“What happens when a school bus drives by and a helicopter flies over and sprays the bus?” Helliker asked. “That’s an example of pesticide drift that we should look at.”

Helliker added that his office is looking into what chemicals should be banned, though he did not name any particular agent.

“We are just in the process of looking into that,” he said.

He also warned that school districts should be much more discerning when determining where to build new schools. Although land near rural areas is generally cheaper for the districts, the plots can put children at a higher risk for exposure to pesticides.

“The general impression I’ve gotten is that the sites, the school sites, are very critical,” Helliker said. “We need to do what we can to impress on school districts not to place schools near these sites. That’s my message to the school districts.”

Helliker’s appointment came just weeks after the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and state regulators criticized county Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail for failing to properly manage his pesticide control program. The state Department of Pesticide Regulation charged in March that the county suffers from incomplete investigations, lax enforcement and poor record-keeping of pesticide violations at farms for the past six years.

The Board of Supervisors gave McPhail six months to improve conditions, prompting the commissioner to restructure the office. Among the improvements was the hiring of a new enforcement officer dedicated to full-time pesticide enforcement.

Speakers at Saturday’s meeting reinforced their message that even more could be done to ensure pesticide enforcement is working properly.

“If you don’t think there is a problem, then you have your head in the dirt,” Claudia Jensen, a pediatric advisor for Cornerstone Children’s Home, told Helliker and his board of advisors.

“But we can’t continue to allow our children to be exposed to known carcinogens. And we need to form a plan of attack. And if everyone of you here today does that, then I will feel very fortunate to have been here today.”