UFW Action Alert

Take action: Farm workers were 50 feet away when applicator exposed them to poisons!

Friends, we need your immediate help. Thousands of you responded to last Thursday’s action alert after 23 women table grape workers were exposed to toxic pesticides--including one that may cause reproductive harm--as they worked in the grapes in a Kern County, Calif. vineyard.

As details leak out, this incident has become more horrifying. According to the Bakersfield Californian, "when the workers were hit, the sprayer was about 50 feet away" in a nearby field.

It gets worse. It was reported that grower officials from both fields spoke to each other before the incident occurred. The newspaper notes that some one at Paramount Citrus, the orchard where the pesticides were sprayed, talked to the supervisor of the crew in the adjoining vineyard about the farm workers' close proximity to the spraying. "A vineyard supervisor in the field thought the spraying would stop," the Californian reported. "Instead, San Joaquin Helicopters made two more runs through the grove," according to the grower. "When the workers were hit, the sprayer was about 50 feet away, according to the victims." The Kern County Agricultural Commissioner said "the crews were actually right on top of each other."

The pesticide application firm, San Joaquin Helicopters, has a long record of infractions according to the Bakersfield Californian. In 1996, the state levied a fine of $60,000 and suspended the licenses of two San Joaquin Helicopters employees for spraying pesticides on 1,100 vineyard workers. Since 1989, the applicator has also been fined on eight occasions for pesticide infractions. Our research shows other violation notices which carried no fine have also been issued against the company.

Enough is enough. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation should immediately investigate and prosecute San Joaquin Helicopters and anyone else found to be responsible. There have been too many violations over the years. It is time for the state of California to consider permanently revoking the company’s license.

Please send your email to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation TODAY and demand it take immediate action!
http://www.ufw.org/ and go to the TAKE ACTION page