Workers News from the Central Valley

Take Action: 19 farm workers exposed to deadly nerve-gas pesticide, three workers still hospitalized in guarded condition

Nineteen Central Valley farm workers were exposed to the deadly nerve gas pesticide Monitor 4 and the pesticide Penncozeb 75 DM early Sunday morning as they labored in a peach orchard after a nearby potato field was sprayed with the toxic poisons. Preliminary reports indicate the wind shifted and the chemical drifted. Thirteen of the workers were transported to Bakersfield hospitals. Three of the women remain in the hospital in guarded condition.

Monitor contains an acutely toxic cholinesterase-inhibiting neurotoxin and is highly toxic to humans. It is carcinogenic, can cause reproductive and developmental harm, and effects the nervous system. Penncozob 75 DM contains mancozeb, which probably causes cancer and is especially dangerous for pregnant women, causing reproductive and developmental harm.

The United Farm Workers has been raising public awareness about the deadly pesticide monitor since the mid-1980s, when California farm workers were killed or injured after exposure to this toxin. Cesar Chavez repeatedly declared that there is little, if any, pesticide protection in the fields——the laws and regulations that are supposed to protect farm workers are not enforced. Little has changed since then.

Take action on behalf of farm workers. E-mail Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Tell him to immediately investigate and take action over Sunday's poisoning of farm workers.

Start by joining the UFW action alert listserv