I met a lovely young couple who fled Southern California's smog for clean air near Red Bluff, California.
A safe place to raise their babies.
But look at their baby's play station near...
Why is the man sitting on the Driscoll Farms tractor completely covered in a white outfit that from a distance looks like a space suit, with a trail of white "dust" entering the air as he works on the strawberry field?
I met Amy and her husband last year when Driscoll relocated them temporarily while putting down a toxic (and out-lawed) in Europe pesticide spray called methyl bromide.
This week Amy sent me this photo of her babies play station in close proximity to Driscoll's (almost weekly according to neighbors) pesticide spray.
I asked if she were informed about Driscoll Farms spraying this day, to which she replied,
"No we weren't told--- but they do that about every week. If we requested a spraying schedule we could probably get one? It's not the heavy duty methyl bromide -- but it is some sort of pesticide. Frustrating...we are thinking about moving to Oregon -- want to get out of the heat here....and the pesticides. Hopefully it will work out for us."
I give these folks credit for trying to find a safe place to live.
Yesterday I wrote against nuclear energy.
There's a connection to the rise in nuclear power interest (toxic to ground, water, and air when there's an accident) and Amy's photo of her babies play area near her corporate neighbor that sprays pesticides.
People need to speak up and prioritize safety, and companies always must inform neighbors if/when a community's health may be put in jeopardy.
Last fall, I stayed two nights in Anderson, which is between Redding and Red Bluff on I-5. Lots of farmland where I quickly learned you have to be careful about pesticides. So if you're like Amy, relocating away from Southern California for clean air and wide-open spaces, do your homework if there's nearby farmland.
Here's what I wrote last year:
I met a couple whose home borders Driscoll Farms Strawberries, and every 3 years the farm uses strong and poisonous pesticides, and as a "good neighbor" Driscoll pays to relocate nearby residents for 2 days.
This couple had recently been relocated with their newborn and toddler.
They mentioned a neighbor outside of the safety buffer, meaning supposedly not impacted by pesticides, reported feeling as though her eyes had been pepper sprayed (a symptom).
Unlike the couple I met, she didn't have the personal cell phone numbers of Driscoll Farm and California Agricultural representatives to report her pesticide reaction.
I arrived a week after the spraying. (I have a knack for this sort of timing. Remember Santa Cruz Nov. 2007 when I arrived just in time to experience the aerial pesticide spray of the light brown apple moth and humans and birds first hand? Not by choice but rather no disclaimers on visitors web sites)
I could say much more about this pesticide story and maybe I will in another post. Personally, I'd never want to live next to a strawberry field using pesticides. I found this from Strawberry Workers' Campaign on internet:
- Methyl Bromide. Driscoll growers use nearly a million pounds of the methyl bromide/chloropicrin pesticide mix. Methyl bromide can cause serious damage to the nervous system and in some applications, is known to cause birth defects. Workers may be exposed to methyl bromide when they put tarps over the fields before the chemical is injected into the soil, and when they remove the tarps.
To read more about this toxic pesticide used in California, read here. A good organization with pesticide information, including actions you can take to safeguard your community from toxic impacts of pesticides, check out Pesticide Watch and Pesticide Action Network.