California Counties Create Pesticide Safety Zones

Written by Bruce Goldstein Friday, 04 June 2010 13:29

from an update from Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR)

 Stanislaus and Kern Counties enact community-won buffer zones

 County by county schools in the California Central Valley are gaining protections from the worst pesticides in the form of health-protective "buffer zones." This January Stanislaus County joined Tulare and Kern Counties in providing their school children 1/4 mile buffer zones to protect them from all applications of restricted-use pesticides.

In Stanislaus, the Grayson Neighborhood Council convinced the County Agriculture Commissioner (CAC) to enact the new protections. The Committee for a Better Arvin, along with CRPE, won a similarly strong proposal in Kern County in late 2009. The county buffer zone campaign continues to pick up speed in Madera County, where Líderes Campesinas, CRPE (Center for Race Poverty and the Environment) and CPR's Teresa DeAnda are hard at work.

[Farmworker Justice, Earthjustice and other groups are also asking the EPA at the federal level to require creation of buffer zones to protect children from pesticide drift.  EPA is considering the petition.]

Health screenings, haircuts, and HIV

Written by Kattrina Hancy Friday, 13 November 2009 16:06

Screenings for cardiovascular disease at the local barber shop? Health education on city buses? HIV prevention messages in migrant farmworker communities? Health care and education should not be limited to the doctor's office. Many people are not able to go to a doctor or visit a health clinic on a regular basis, so organizations, including Farmworker Justice, are finding new and innovative ways to promote messages about healthy lifestyles to populations of people who are less likely to have access to traditional health care facilities.

Last week the Chronicle of Philanthropy featured an article about an organization that needed a new way to reach African American men to raise their awareness about prostate cancer. The St. Louis affiliate of 100 Black Men was already doing outreach in churches, but they soon realized that although they were reaching a lot of women, they were still not reaching the men. So, they headed to the barber shop. Nurses and 100 Black Men representatives screened people for hypertension, gave out nutritional advice, and even had prostate-cancer survivors share their experiences. The project was a resounding success.

Health outreach projects such as these are popping up all over the U.S., and even internationally. The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program is doing a similar barber shop project, but with cardiovascular screening. The Women's Collaborative, a program of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, is doing HIV education in beauty salons. Even the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is sponsoring HIV education in barber shops and beauty salons in the capital of Guyana.

Our new HIV prevention program targeting rural Latino communities is based on a similar idea. Using a model of community education called promotores de salud programs, we are training community health organizations to train people to promote messages about healthy lifestyles in their own communities. FJ has been involved with these types of HIV prevention programs since the beginning of our work on health issues.   Because many people from rural Latino communities don't make it to the health clinic on a regular basis, these programs are a great way to bring the message of HIV prevention to the people.  Learn more about our work on HIV prevention in farmworker communities on our website.

20th World AIDS Day, December 1st

Written by Bruce Goldstein Monday, 01 December 2008 23:07

World AIDS Day, December 1st, is dedicated to stopping AIDS.  It is the 20th year of this event.  Farmworker Justice provides award-winning training and technical assistance to community-based organizations to prevent HIV and AIDS. Information about our programs is available on our HIV/AIDS website page under health and safety.

Senate Considers Lifting Travel Ban on HIV-positive Foreigners

Written by Kattrina Hancy Monday, 21 April 2008 15:26

    As part of the bill that would reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief, the Senate is expected to consider, this month, lifting the travel ban on foreigners who are HIV positive.

    While the U.S. donates billions of dollars to fighting AIDS internationally, it has one of the most restrictive immigration policies in the world for HIV-positive foreigners. Under U.S. law, all foreigners applying for immigrant visas must have an HIV test and all applying for a non-immigrant visa (short term, tourist) are required to disclose their HIV status. Those that are positive are prohibited from entering the country unless they apply and are approved for a (stringent) waiver. Only 13 other countries ban HIV positive people from entering their country and they include Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.

    The ban is archaic and draconian and dates back to 1987 when information on HIV transmission was cloudy and the government made decisions that were based more on fear than on fact. By listing HIV as a “communicable disease of public health significance” the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) barred HIV-positive noncitizens from entering the country. In 1991, DHHS recommended lifting the ban on people with HIV and other STIs, but the proposal was dropped due to opposition in Congress. Then in 1993, Congress rescinded the right of DHHS to make decisions about admission of HIV-positive foreigners by passing legislation that labeled “infection with the etiologic agent for acquired immune deficiency syndrome” a disease of public health significance under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

    This ban adds to the stigma that already surrounds HIV in the U.S. and may even discourage foreign students, refugees, and non-permanent residents already in the country, from getting tested or seeking treatment. The ban’s repeal is long over due and should have been overturned years ago.

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Information for this post came from:

San Francisco Chronicle

Congressional Bills: S. 2486 and HR. 3337 available at the Library of Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov)