Pesticides
Category: Pesticides
Farmworkers Meet with EPA
Last Updated (Wednesday, 07 May 2008 16:48) Written by Shelley Davis Thursday, 24 April 2008 20:41
On April 22, 2008, Farmworker Justice, with the help of Pesticide Action Network, United Farm Workers, Farmworker Association of Florida, California Rural Legal Assistance and others, brought three farmworkers to Washington DC to meet with EPA officials. Each of the farmworkers had been injured by pesticides. They each explained how they had been injured and what improvements they would like to see in the pesticide regulations.
The first speaker, Sandra Garcia from California had two 2007 incidents to recount. In the first incident, she and a crew of about 40 workers were tipping grapes, when a tractor began spraying in an adjacent block in the same field. The spray drifted to where the farmworkers were working. Despite their attempts to get help from the crewleader, the spraying continued. Sandra and other workers experienced symptoms. She felt dizzy, had a dry throat and coughing. The symptoms lasted about three days. She never learned the name of the pesticide and did not seek medical help for fear of losing her job.
The Human Cost of Profit Over People: Carlitos’ Story
Last Updated (Friday, 28 March 2008 19:46) Written by barb howe Friday, 28 March 2008 16:05
Corporate responsibility is not just another liberal platitude for Carlos (Carlitos) Herrera-Candelario of Immokolee, Florida. The three year-old was born with spinal abnormalities, has no arms or legs and has a deformed lung because the company that employed his mother while she was pregnant has much to learn about seeing their workers as human beings instead of machines.
Read more: The Human Cost of Profit Over People: Carlitos’ Story
FJ's Deputy Director Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Last Updated (Thursday, 24 April 2008 15:57) Written by barb howe Monday, 24 March 2008 15:42
Few people have left a trail of such important and influential accomplishments in the field of farmworkers' rights than our Deputy Director Shelley Davis. That's why one of our partner organizations, Beyond Pesticides presented her with the Dragonfly Lifetime Achievement Award on March 14th at the 26th National Pesticide Forum in Berkeley, California.
Her acceptance speech is inspiring and a moving call to action, reminding us that we all have a calling to continue the fight for farmworkers' rights. It is re-printed below.
Dragonfly Award Acceptance Speech
By Shelley Davis
In 1989, Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers, went on a hunger strike, not to demand better wages, although those were needed, but to demand that five pesticides be eliminated from grape orchards and the agricultural workplace in general.
These five products were...
Read more: FJ's Deputy Director Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
EPA Allows Pesticide Manufacturers to Use Human Guinea Pigs
Last Updated (Monday, 24 March 2008 15:05) Written by Shelley Davis Friday, 07 March 2008 23:02
Pesticides are poisons. You’d think that companies wouldn’t test them on people to determine their harmfulness but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows chemical companies to do just that. In a human testing regulation issued in 2005, EPA opened the door for pesticide manufacturers to test their products on people. The chemical companies have jumped in with both feet, handing the EPA human studies previously conducted and asking them to approve a host of new ones.
Read more: EPA Allows Pesticide Manufacturers to Use Human Guinea Pigs
