Pesticides - Healthier Farms; Unhealthier Farmworkers

Author(s)
Published on
July 9, 2012

Onions. It punches your sense of smell. For many years throughout the 80's my family followed the onion harvest throughout California's central valley. We lived in hotels as we moved from city to city. When my parents came home, that smell of onions came with them permeating the entire hotel room. The family next door worked in the tomato fields. A much sweeter smell to be sure, except one thing. At times a more sinister smell would permeate their room. The smell of insecticide. Talk about a punch.

I never knew what became of that family but perhaps through this fellowship I could better understand the short-term and long-term risks to their health they faced as they picked our nation's produce.  I have several ideas that I intend to combine and develop a comprehensive look at pesticide use in the United States and the health risks they may pose to farm workers.