Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage PAID
Brockton, MA
Permit No.430
In This Issue: • Santa Clara County Residents Push for Toxic
Cleanup• Legislators Agree To Protect Children and Seniors• Organic
Sounds: New Campaign And A Sacramento Celebration • Spotlight: The
Playing Fields Protector• “No More Fogging” Say Santa Clara County
Residents• Teens Turning Green
Pesticide Watch1107 9th Street, Suite 601Sacramento, CA
95814www.pesticidewatch.org
Address Service Requested
CREDITS Editor: Paul Schramski Towers. Contributors: Paul
Schramski Towers, Elizabeth Martin-Craig and Sara Landis. Photos:
Kirk Vartan (1) Karen Medders (2) Jennifer Ringewald (3) Lisa
Wertheim (4). Design: Erica Wong and Public Interest GRFX (215)
985-1113. This newsletter is the update for members of Pesticide
Watch and Pesticide Watch Education Fund. Contact us at (916)
551-1883 or at [email protected], or at the address below for
more information. Printed on recycled paper.
It means something to us at Pesticide Watch that 2008 was the
year of the community orga-nizer. Whatever you feel about our
current President, he was, like all of our staff, a community
organizer at one point in his life. So, it’s fitting that this
spring we are celebrating another com-munity organizer and one of
our movement’s greatest he-roes: Cesar Chavez. Chavez suc-cessfully
campaigned for basic human rights for farm workers and to reduce
the use of toxic pesticides in our communities.
At its heart, community orga-nizing is about bringing people
together, in solidarity, to take on challenges, make their voic-es
heard, and overcome their opposition. And now, more than ever, we
need to organize our communities to create pes-ticide protection
zones around schools and senior centers and to clean up polluted
places, which you will read about in the following pages.
Consider our new president’s words “Yes We Can”, Chavez’s legacy
“Si Se Puede”, and get involved in campaigns to re-duce toxic
pesticides in your backyard and state—become a community
organizer.
Sincerely,
Paul Schramski State Director
Santa Clara, CA — The Bay Area Research and Extension Center
(BAREC), which began operation in the early 1920s as a University
of California agricultural test-ing site, now occupies 17 acres of
urban Santa Clara County. Over the past 60 years, research at the
station made mass production of strawberries possible, but also
involved testing thousands of chemi-cal and pesticides.
Unfortunately, decades of agricultural testing has left the land
contaminated with a toxic legacy of pesti-cides, including
carcinogenic chemicals.
Six years ago, the land went up for sale. If sold, the remaining
soil would pose a threat to health of residents, so, neigh-bors
formed the group SaveBAREC to protest the sale and privatization of
the land and to make sure the land is properly cleaned up.
Unfortunately, the group has met resistance from the city, state,
and developers.
In June of 2007, more than 300 mem-bers of the community turned
out in San Jose on a Wednesday evening to voice opposition to the
proposed develop-ment. Their testimony continued until 2:15 AM, but
in direct defiance of public sentiment and without deliberation,
the city council unanimously voted to allow the development to
proceed.
After this setback, SaveBAREC commu-nity members hit the streets
in the fall of 2007 and gathered the required 12,000 signatures—in
just 3 weeks—to put two referendums on the ballot preserving the
area as open space, and ultimate-ly, ensuring its cleanup.
Unfortunately, SaveBAREC could not compete with the $1 million that
developers spent on ads, cold calling and mailers to convince
residents to support the development.
As of this writing, the California Department of Toxic
Substances has agreed to clean up only the most toxic hot
spots.
Having kept the developers at bay, SaveBAREC members are not
giving up. According to SaveBAREC leader Kirk Vartan, “This is
really just scratching the surface of the problem. Action must be
taken to protect the health of the com-munity to the fullest
extent.” Residents are now embarking on a large-scale public
re-lations effort to comprehensively clean up the entire area.
“We’ve got a new plan on how to both clean up and preserve this
land in order to protect the public health and make it available
for the greatest public use,” Said Elizabeth Martin-Craig, a
Pesticide Watch organizer working with the group.
Santa Clara County Residents Push for Toxic CleanupA Note to Our
Members
SaveBAREC members take to the streets to rally support for their
ballot initiatives.
Vol.17 No.2Spring 2009
The Newsletter of Pesticide Watch and the Pesticide Watch
Education Fund
Elizabeth Martin-Craig of Pesticide Watch helps lead a
discussion with Mark Steffanski of Marin Academy, as well as two
teens, tackling toxic products in schools.
Ross, CA — On February 7th, more than 200 junior high and high
school students came together for the 4th Annual Teens Turning
Green Summit. Pesticide Watch staff have been working with students
to develop the Teens for Healthy Schools project, which focuses on
using fewer pesticides inside and outside our schools. Half of our
nation’s schools have problems linked to indoor air quality, and
asthma is the leading cause of school absentee-ism due to chronic
illness. Through the project, teens are identifying what toxic
products are used in their schools, and working with their
administrators to find safer alternatives.
For more information about the project, contact
[email protected]
Teens Turning Green
Executive Chef Michael Tuohy of the Grange Restaurant speaks at
Organic Sounds: Sacramento, highlighting the need for local food
and pesticide-free communities.
Oakland, CA — Last year, East Bay resi-dents were among the many
who raised an outcry to proposed aerial pesticide spraying for the
light brown apple moth. Through tireless organizing, residents
stopped aerial spraying for the moth, one piece of the state’s
“eradication” program, and moved their focus to problematic ground
pesticide applications.
One of the greatest concerns about pro-posed aerial spraying was
the lack of protection for California’s most sensi-tive
populations, including children, se-niors and working families. In
response, Pesticide Watch joined community orga-nizations to
advocate protection zones absent of pesticide spraying around
schools, hospitals, and senior centers, among other places.
“We have an ethical responsibility to protect the most
vulnerable from pesti-cide poisoning: infants and children, the
elderly, and those who are already ill,” said Lynn Elliott-Harding,
a registered
Sacramento, CA — In early March, community leaders gathered to
honor Pesticide Watch and celebrate emerg-ing efforts to tackle
pesticide misuse and increase food security in the Sacramento
Valley.
“Sacramento has committed to being a leader in sustainability
for the state and nation, and we are proud that organiza-tions like
Pesticide Watch are pushing us to get there,” said Sacramento City
Councilwoman Lauren Hammond.
More than 3.2 million pounds of pesticides are used in
Sacramento County, including thousands of pounds in urban homes,
schools, parks and workplaces. Area orga-nizations, including
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Mothers’ Support Network and
the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op launched Pesticide-Free
Sacramento
as a comprehensive effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate
pesticide use in the region.
“Sacramentans are challenging the way toxics pesticides are used
in their back-yards and finding creative solutions to fix an
increasingly broken food system,” said Paul Schramski Towers, state
director of Pesticide Watch. “By investing in local food and
organic places, we can create a healthier, more vibrant
community.”
Organic Sounds: Sacramento was host-ed by Assemblymember Dave
Jones, Sacramento City Councilmembers Rob Fong and Lauren Hammond,
Martha Guzman Aceves of California Rural Legal Assistance, Rene
Guerrero of the Planning and Conservation League and Shamus Roller
of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, among others.
— Assemblymember Sandré Swanson
— Sacramento City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond
Aerial pesticide spraying is an outdated and unsafe
technology.
Sacramento has committed to being a leader in sustainability for
the state and nation.
Legislators Agree To Protect Children And Seniors
Organic Sounds: New Campaign And A Sacramento Celebration
Pesticide Watch
Saratoga, CA — In yet another California community, residents
are joining arms and calling on local agencies to stop the
prac-tice of fogging for mosquitoes. For years, the Santa Clara
County Vector Control District has fogged pesticides to control the
spread of West Nile virus. While West Nile virus poses threats to
human health, the pesticides used in fogging are also increasingly
linked to adverse health ef-fects, especially in pregnant
women.
Residents recently formed Community for Environmentally Sound
and Natural Alternatives (CESNA) in response to out-dated forms of
mosquito management. “Fogging for public health or farming reasons
does more harm than good,” said Nancy Jamello, one of the leaders
of CESNA. “Mosquito control agencies need to do more to prevent
mosquito prob-lems, rather than band-aid solutions like fogging,”
she added.
Recent scientific reports indicate that controlling mosquito
larvae, rather than adults, through least-toxic methods like direct
applications of soaps and oils, is a better alternative. While
other reports
Tiburon, CA — In the Fall of 2008, Jennifer Ringewald, a mother
new to the Reed Union School District, re-ceived her state-mandated
informa-tional flyer about the pesticides that might be used on
school grounds during the school year. This surprised and scared
her.
“Why am I feeding my children or-ganic produce and letting them
play on fields sprayed with pesticides?” she asked.
While reading a Pesticide Watch newsletter, she realized she
could get help. She contacted Elizabeth Martin-Craig, community
organizer with the San Francisco office of Pesticide Watch.
Jennifer soon realized that the effects of spraying on their
children concerned many parents at all three
schools in the district. She and other moms soon formed a group,
the Reed Parents for Healthy Schools.
Their immediate goal is to, in part-nership with the School
Board, form an Integrated Pest Management Committee, on which at
least one parent would serve, and through the collaborative
process, reduce the use of pesticides.
Longer-term goals include extending the same principles to
municipal and county fields and trails, making them pesticide-free
as well. “I’m hope-ful that once community leaders understand the
effects on our chil-dren and how easy it is to transition to a much
lower level of pesticide use, we’ll all be on the same page,” said
Ringewald.
The Playing Fields Protector
“No More Fogging” Say Santa Clara County Residents
Jennifer Ringewald and her son stand their ground on the Reed
Union playing fields.
Pesticide Watch
Fogging for public health or farming reasons does more harm than
good.— Nancy Jamello, CESNA
underscore that fogged pesticides tend to drift, landing on
homes, schools and farms, rather than the intended mosqui-toes.
For more information about mosquito fog-ging, visit our website
and click the link for the “Overkill” report.
nurse, leader of Stop the Spray - East Bay and a member of the
California Nurses Association. “The literature is clear; we must be
as well. Our laws must support the science and protect those at
greatest risk.”
Over the past two years, East Bay resi-dents descended on
Sacramento, as well as Oakland, calling for greater protections
from aerial pesticide spraying through meetings, phone calls and
letters. Hearing the call from his constituents and across the
state, Assemblymember Sandré Swanson, recently took up legislation:
the Clean Air for Children, Seniors and Working Families Act.
“Aerial pesticide spraying is an outdated and unsafe tech-nology,”
he said.
Concerned community organizations are working to advance Mr.
Swanson’s legisla-tion, while working through the California
Department of Pesticide Regulation and local County Agricultural
Commissioners to create as many protection zones as possible for
children and seniors.
Contact UsIs your neighborhood
threatened by pesticide
pollution? Are your
government officials or
company executives not
addressing these issues
in a timely and effective
manner? If so, Pesticide
Watch Education Fund
and our staff can come to
your community and help
you. Please contact us at
916.551.1883 or
[email protected].