Environmental Enemies

As the largest producer of agricultural products in this country, California applies enormous amounts of pesticides to its farmland. But pesticides can cause acute poisoning, cancer, birth defects and damage to the nervous system if they come in contact with people.

The state wants to know how often that’s happening. Before 2001, health officials could track acute pesticide illness in workers, but actual data on the amount of pesticides causing harm in humans was not known. Now, with the passage of the 2001 California Environmental Health Surveillance System Act and the 2003 Health Tracking Act, the state’s Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Health Services are reviewing exposure and tracking data to determine levels of toxic chemicals in people. Californians now have reliable information on pesticide use and the potential exposure from it. Beyond knowing how much is being applied to agriculture, the state knows how much of a pesticide is actually being ingested by people, and if it’s causing them any harm.

“These laws help California find ways to reduce the growing burden of chronic diseases such as asthma, developmental disorders, some forms of cancer and Parkinson’s disease,” says Dr. Amy D. Kyle, of the School of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley.