For decades, farmworker communities across California have demanded the right to know beforehand what, when and where hazardous agricultural pesticides will be applied.
They have wanted to be able to take safety precautions against exposure to pesticides drifting from fields. For years, these communities have called for an online system that could warn of upcoming toxic pesticide applications.
On March 24, that system finally arrived, as the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) launched the new online statewide pesticide notification system called “Spray Days.”
The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE) and Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) sponsored a celebratory news conference attended by more than 50 supporters at Shafter Veterans Hall. At the same site, the DPR hosted a launch event presentation of the online Spray Days system and sign-up to receive pesticide notifications by text or e-mail.
“This is a first-in-the-world pesticide notification system,” said CPR Co-Director Angel Garcia. “Since California uses more pesticides than any other state, including more than 130 pesticides that are not approved in the European Union, farmworker communities have demanded a ‘heads up’ in order to take measures to reduce the risk of exposure to our loved ones.
“We need far better protections from the state, but this is a giant step forward toward transparency about toxic pesticide use.”
Byanka Santoyo, an organizer with the CRPE, added that “right here in Shafter, five years ago, our community called on the ag commissioner to give us advanced notice of cancer-causing fumigant applications, but he refused. We kept pushing and pushing at AB 617 meetings, at public hearings, at news conferences and protests. Now, not just Shafter, but the whole state will have access to upcoming pesticide information.”
The Spray Days system allows for anybody with Internet access to search a map of California for notices of intended pesticide applications for the following day (for fumigants, the information will be provided 48 hours in advance).
People can also sign up to receive notices of pending pesticide use through text or e-mail. The notices will be for restricted material pesticides only—the pesticides considered most hazardous by the DPR. Some of these restricted pesticides can cause cancer and damage brains and lungs, among other health harms.
“We love the pesticide map system and the opportunity to get text notices,” said Erika Alfaro, a public health nurse in Northern California and a member of Safe Ag Safe Schools. “With this information, for the first time, agricultural communities can take the proper health precautions by closing windows and doors, taking clothes off the line and allowing the especially vulnerable—like pregnant or asthmatic individuals—to stay indoors at home, work or school.”
Irene Gomez, an Oxnard resident and member of the Coalition Advocating for Pesticide Safety–Ventura County, or CAPS 805, raised a remaining concern: “When my community in Nyeland Acres had the pilot notification project, our biggest issue was that you couldn’t find out exactly where the pesticides would be applied—which farm?
“That’s still a problem with Spray Days. You can only know pesticides are being applied within a square mile, but not whether it’s coming from behind your house, across the street or even a mile away.”
It is possible for such concerns to be addressed through the Spray Days review process, which calls for an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee and the California Department of Food & Agriculture to make annual recommendations for changes, as well as a yearly public comment period.
