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Farm Children Threatened By Toxic Pesticides, According to Lawsuit

Posted on: Sunday, 9 October 2005, 03:00 CDT

By Anonymous

Pesticide Action Network North America works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.

A generation of America's most vulnerable children face increased risk from esposure to hazardous pesticides, according to a lawsuit filed in June against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The suit, by a coalition of farm workers, environmental and public health groups, charges the agency with ignoring the special risk to children growing up surrounded by the swirl of chemicla poisons on farms.

More than a million children of farm workers live near farms in this country, and more than 300,000 farmers' children under the age of six live on farms. These children are particularly exposed to hazardous pesticides, from their food, the air, soil and water, and even from the clothes of their parents, according to a growing body of scientific evidence. Kids are more vulnerable than adults to toxic effects of pesticides on their developing brains and bodies. The plaintiffs charge that the EPA has failed to consider farm kids' heightened exposure risks when setting allowable pesticide standards for food, "Children of farm workers breathe pesticides that drift from the fields, and they often live, play, and go to school right next to pesticide-treated orchards," said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, which represents tens of thousands of farm workers. "It's common sense to protect our kids, but EPA is ignoring them."

Under the 1996 law Food Quality Protection Act, EPA is required to account for specific factors when setting tolerance levels for chemical pesticide residues that consumers and "major identifiable subgroups" of consumers may be exposed to. In October 1998, the plaintiffs petitioned the EPA to identify farm children as meriting special consideration. The groups are suing the EPA for failing to respond to the petition within a reasonable amount of time.

Growing scientici evidence links pesticide exposure to neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, reduced cognitive functioning and reduced coordination; developmental delays in infants and children; reproductive harms, such as infertility, stillbirths, birth defects, and musculoskeletal defects; and cancer, including brain tumors, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, sarcoma and Wilm's tumor.

"Studies have shown elevated levels of pesticides in the homes and cars of farm ing families that are absorbed by workers and their children," said Shelley Davis co-executive director of the Farmworker justice Fund, co-counsel for the plaintiffs. "Put together with evidence of increased rates of cancer and birth defects among farm workers and their children, this research raises a red flag," said Davis. The lawsuit is being filed against the EPA in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs are Pesticide Action Network North America; United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO; NRDC; Clean Water Action; and Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides.

Copyright American Friends Service Committee, Inc. Sep 2005

Source: Peacework

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