ACCORDING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP, PEOPLE ARE BEING EXPOSED TO PESTICIDES IN VENTURA COUNTY AT LEVELS THAT ARE A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

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HERE IS THE SCIENCE:

 

Peer-reviewed studies on Ventura:

Temkin AM, Uche UI, Evans S, Anderson KM, Perrone-Gray S, Campbell C, Naidenko OV. Racial and social disparities in Ventura County, California related to agricultural pesticide applications and toxicity. Sci Total Environ. 2022 Sep 3;853:158399

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722054985

 

EWG press release about the study, with quotes from advocates, talking about the injustices of pesticide exposure, and the importance of notifying the communities in advance

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2022/09/study-communities-color-greatest-risk-pesticide-exposure-ventura

 

In the paper, the Introduction secton lists a long list of studies, with the links to their references. Copying the paragraph here:

“Pesticide exposures on the job, residential proximity to pesticide applications, and elevated body burden of pesticides as detected by biomonitoring have been associated with harm to the nervous system in both adults and children, an elevated risk of Parkinson's disease (Caballero et al., 2018; Costello et al., 2009), traits of autism spectrum disorder (von Ehrenstein et al., 2019; Sagiv et al., 2018), a decline in cognitive function (Gunier et al., 2017; Rowe et al., 2016), and changes in behavior (Hyland et al., 2021). Pesticide exposures have been also linked to adverse impacts on fetal development during pregnancy (Larsen et al., 2017), a greater risk of preterm birth (Winchester et al., 2016), low birth weight (Gemmill et al., 2013), neural tube defects and hypospadias (Rappazzo et al., 2019), respiratory outcomes such as asthma (Raanan et al., 2017), and impacts on the reproductive system (Requena-Mullor et al., 2021). Biomonitoring studies indicated that children living in agricultural areas have higher exposure to pesticides than the general population (Fenske et al., 2000; Lu et al., 2000). Further, pesticide exposure has been associated with an elevated risk of adult and child cancers including breast cancer (Harnly et al., 2005; Wofford et al., 2014; Gunier et al., 2011), leukemia (Lombardi et al., 2021), and central nervous system tumors (Park et al., 2020).

 

Air monitoring conducted in California showed that pesticides can drift up to several miles from their application site (Harnly et al., 2005; Wofford et al., 2014) and pesticides detected in house dust have been correlated with pesticide applications nearly one mile away (Gunier et al., 2011). Recent investigations identified an elevated risk of health harm within 2.5 miles from pesticide application (Lombardi et al., 2021; Park et al., 2020).”

 

References cited in these paragraphs (more references in the article itself)

M. Caballero, et al. Estimated residential exposure to agricultural chemicals and premature mortality by Parkinson's disease in Washington State

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15 (12) (2018), 2885.

 

S. Costello, et al. Parkinson's disease and residential exposure to maneb and paraquat from agricultural applications in the central valley of California

Am. J. Epidemiol., 169 (8) (2009), 919-926.

 

R.A. Fenske, et al. Biologically based pesticide dose estimates for children in an agricultural community. Environ. Health Perspect., 108 (6) (2000), 515-520.

 

A. Gemmill, et al. Residential proximity to methyl bromide use and birth outcomes in an agricultural population in California. Environ. Health Perspect., 121 (6) (2013), 737-743.

 

R.B. Gunier, et al. Determinants of agricultural pesticide concentrations in carpet dust. Environ. Health Perspect., 119 (7) (2011), 970-976.

 

R.B. Gunier, et al. Prenatal residential proximity to agricultural pesticide use and IQ in 7-year-old children. Environ. Health Perspect., 125 (5) (2017), 057002.

 

M. Harnly, et al. Correlating agricultural use of organophosphates with outdoor air concentrations: a particular concern for children. Environ. Health Perspect., 113 (9) (2005), 1184-1189.

 

C. Hyland, et al. Associations between pesticide mixtures applied near home during pregnancy and early childhood with adolescent behavioral and emotional problems in the CHAMACOS study. Environ. Epidemiol., 5 (3) (2021), e150.

 

A.E. Larsen, S.D. Gaines, O. Deschenes. Agricultural pesticide use and adverse birth outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Nat. Commun., 8 (1) (2017), 302.

 

C. Lombardi, et al. Residential proximity to pesticide application as a risk factor for childhood central nervous system tumors. Environ. Res., 197 (2021), 111078.

 

C. Lu, et al. Pesticide exposure of children in an agricultural community: evidence of household proximity to farmland and take home exposure pathways. Environ. Res., 84 (3) (2000), 290-302.

 

A.S. Park, et al. Prenatal pesticide exposure and childhood leukemia - a California statewide case-control study. Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health, 226 (2020), 113486.

 

R. Raanan, et al. Elemental sulfur use and associations with pediatric lung function and respiratory symptoms in an agricultural community (California, USA). Environ. Health Perspect., 125 (8) (2017), 087007.

 

K.M. Rappazzo, et al. Maternal residential exposure to specific agricultural pesticide active ingredients and birth defects in a 2003–2005 North Carolina birth cohort. Birth Defects Res., 111 (6) (2019), 312-323.

 

M. Requena-Mullor, et al. Evaluation of gonadal alterations in a population environmentally exposed to a mixture of endocrine active pesticides.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18 (5) (2021), 2355.

 

C. Rowe, et al. Residential proximity to organophosphate and carbamate pesticide use during pregnancy, poverty during childhood, and cognitive functioning in 10-year-old children. Environ. Res., 150 (2016), 128-137.

 

S.K. Sagiv, et al. Prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposure and traits related to autism spectrum disorders in a population living in proximity to agriculture. Environ. Health Perspect., 126 (4) (2018), 047012.

 

O.S. von Ehrenstein, et al. Prenatal and infant exposure to ambient pesticides and autism spectrum disorder in children: population based case-control study. BMJ, 364 (2019), l962.

 

P. Winchester, C. Proctor, J. Ying. County-level pesticide use and risk of shortened gestation and preterm birth. Acta Paediatr., 105 (3) (2016), e107-e115.

 

P. Wofford, et al. Community air monitoring for pesticides. Part 3: using health-based screening levels to evaluate results collected for a year. Environ. Monit. Assess., 186 (3) (2014), 1355-1370.