Fields of Poison 2002: California Farmworkers and Pesticides

Agricultural workers face greater threats from pesticide-related illnesses -- including acute poisonings and long-term effects such as cancer and birth defects -- than any other sector of society. Farmworkers and their children, are exposed to pesticides while working in and living near the fields. To shed light on this issue, the CA for Pesticide Reform issued a report on the problem in June 1999, presenting CA Dept. of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) data showing that from 1991 to 1996 DPR reported nearly 4,000 cases of farmworker pesticide poisoning, and concluding that the problem was even more serious. This report, in both English and Spanish, updates that 1999 report and shows that farmworkers continue to face unacceptable threats of exposure to hazardous pesticides.