There seems to some uneven comparisons and wrong assumptions among commenters, mixing the experiences of vegetable consumers, farmers (owners), and farmworkers (the "farm families" mentioned here). Consumers can wash their vegetables, so they're out of the equation. Farmers, i.e., corporate farm "owners" have much less exposure than those who harvest and handle produce and apply pesticides. Suburbanites who live nearby farm areas likewise have much less exposure than field workers, e.g., pregnant women who are fieldworkers. Epidemiologists make it their job not to compare apples and oranges in their statistical analysis.
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Those pesticides, often just carried on the wind or absorbed into the water supply (which, unfortunately, doesn't distinguish between 'organic' and 'conventional'), cause a lot of problems in a lot of places. When in practice down here it was always easy to tell when they were spraying and, especially, when they were burning off the stumps in the sugar cane fields that occupy the western two-thirds of Palm Beach County - the 'yield' was a bumper crop of everything from asthma exacerbations to bronchitis and even pneumonia. And those on the elderly side with chronic lung problems? You can only imagine. And if there's anything worse than that, it's what a lot of people wished on the geniuses in our Federal government who gave Big Sugar a complete pass on the Clean Air Act. (Think in terms of having them sitting on the beach, waiting for Andrew. The hurricane, that is.) And then there's that honourary four-letter word: Monsanto. Genetically modified pesticide-containing goodies, anybody?
After all, they're plant-based, so they've got to be good for you? Well, at least they're good for some rich bottom lines, 'harvested' by characters who richly deserve having someone go medieval on THEIR bottoms.
After all, they're plant-based, so they've got to be good for you? Well, at least they're good for some rich bottom lines, 'harvested' by characters who richly deserve having someone go medieval on THEIR bottoms.
Nice to see Mr. Bittman still contributing to the NY Times.
A personal anecdote: My brother used to live in a small area adjoining an industrial-sized strawberry field. Each year, when they sprayed, the land owners moved everyone living next to it to motels to avoid exposure.
Should make all of us think twice before eating non-organic strawberries and all of us work harder to protect those who spray and harvest such a potentially toxic crop.
A personal anecdote: My brother used to live in a small area adjoining an industrial-sized strawberry field. Each year, when they sprayed, the land owners moved everyone living next to it to motels to avoid exposure.
Should make all of us think twice before eating non-organic strawberries and all of us work harder to protect those who spray and harvest such a potentially toxic crop.
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Fact is that the organaphosphates have been largely phased out and replaced with much lower risk insecticides. Strange that this article fails to note this.
The ignorant public is under the delusion that growing things organically is a logical solution to the potential risks inherent in the use of modern chemistry in agriculture- regardless of the effect on food prices and the terrible environmental consequences of having to use more and more land to feed the world. Call it the Christian Science approach to growing food
The ignorant public is under the delusion that growing things organically is a logical solution to the potential risks inherent in the use of modern chemistry in agriculture- regardless of the effect on food prices and the terrible environmental consequences of having to use more and more land to feed the world. Call it the Christian Science approach to growing food
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Thanks you, Mr. Bittman, for an excellent and timely article. I lived in Monterey County / Salinas area for over thirty years, and in that short amount of time, the growth of the area, and it's agriculture was enormous, and not always healthy.
Beyond the problems of the recent 4 year drought, the endless onslaught of McMansions, subdivisions and shopping malls collided with Salinas's mainstay of Agriculture. The results were obvious; too many people paving over the best farm land in the World. And so, Agribusiness ramped up their use of pesticides to grow "more and faster" on the fields they had.
A classic example was strawberrys. To grow those baseball sized, perfect, blemish-free strawberrys, agribusiness used a pesticide called methal bromide - a known carcinogen. After fields were planted in strawberrys and then sprayed with that chemical, NOTHING would grow in that soil for many years, and - time and again, those "old" strawberry fields turned into subdivisions.
As more and more subdivisions were created, more and more groundwater was being pumped to them, as well as to the farms. The result was massive salt water intrusion into most of the Salinas Valley wells, Ag or otherwise.
Salinas Valley was something beautiful back in the 1930's and 40's, before pesticides became "mandated". A drive down there today is heartbreaking. In their dash for huge development and it's accompanying greed, Monterey County Government killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Beyond the problems of the recent 4 year drought, the endless onslaught of McMansions, subdivisions and shopping malls collided with Salinas's mainstay of Agriculture. The results were obvious; too many people paving over the best farm land in the World. And so, Agribusiness ramped up their use of pesticides to grow "more and faster" on the fields they had.
A classic example was strawberrys. To grow those baseball sized, perfect, blemish-free strawberrys, agribusiness used a pesticide called methal bromide - a known carcinogen. After fields were planted in strawberrys and then sprayed with that chemical, NOTHING would grow in that soil for many years, and - time and again, those "old" strawberry fields turned into subdivisions.
As more and more subdivisions were created, more and more groundwater was being pumped to them, as well as to the farms. The result was massive salt water intrusion into most of the Salinas Valley wells, Ag or otherwise.
Salinas Valley was something beautiful back in the 1930's and 40's, before pesticides became "mandated". A drive down there today is heartbreaking. In their dash for huge development and it's accompanying greed, Monterey County Government killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
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This type of study must extend to ranch workers in states like WY, ID, MT and NE. While anecdotes aren't science, they can be the canary in the coal mine: my nephew is a ranch hand in WY whose oldest child is severely neurologically damaged since birth. Not sure yet about his younger sisters health status. One common element, especially for the oldest, is that both mother and father were quite literally up to their armpits in chemicals used with cattle and calving -- including exposure during the critical first months of pregnancy. And both brought/bring the chemicals into their home on clothes, boots, hair, and skin, with no awareness of their impact on their kids.
In addition to the epidemiology evidence from tracking these families, it may be essential to get our experts focused on figuring out exactly what chemicals are toxic and means of protection for pregnant moms, in utero babies, infants and developing children. For a model, take a look at the CDC's 2014 report on the elements that make up Third Hand Smoke (residues shed by "outside" smokers too) and become MORE toxic over time as some mix with oxygen. Only this level of analysis and specific clean up recommendations will offer a path to healthy Moms, Dads, and kids in farm and ranching communities.
In addition to the epidemiology evidence from tracking these families, it may be essential to get our experts focused on figuring out exactly what chemicals are toxic and means of protection for pregnant moms, in utero babies, infants and developing children. For a model, take a look at the CDC's 2014 report on the elements that make up Third Hand Smoke (residues shed by "outside" smokers too) and become MORE toxic over time as some mix with oxygen. Only this level of analysis and specific clean up recommendations will offer a path to healthy Moms, Dads, and kids in farm and ranching communities.
Looking toward solutions-- instead of just crying about how everything is categorically terrible for farmworkers, which it isnt--I would want to know whether there are problems with the protocols to minimize human contact with pesticides-- training and re-entry intervals, and whether proper controls were in place, and what has changed in the decades since this study has been underway. I would expect that pretty significant changes have been made in the pesticides that are used, and the protocols for using them.
Id also like to know how many potentially harmful pesticides have been taken off the market place in the decades since this study has been underway.
Id also like to know how many potentially harmful pesticides have been taken off the market place in the decades since this study has been underway.
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My sister worked for thirty years as an RN in central New Jersey. It was pretty well known that there was an unusually high incidence of cancer amongst farm workers in certain areas. It always surprised me that apparently no one ever looked into it or seemed to care.
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Many of these farm workers are undocumented residents. We have a GOP carnival cavalcade of candidates falling all over themselves in the race to the bottom, strutting "toughness" by proposing to kick them out of the country. (Don't worry, though; Mexico will foot the bill.) If elected and if successful in their political demonizing, good luck with our food supply, fellow Americans!
If insulting and threatening these workers weren't enough, we poison them and their babies in the service of "efficiency" and private greed. These are the same folks who abhor a woman's right to choose. It's OK to poison a fetus but not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, while ignoring a citizen's full, court-sanctioned constitutional right. You can't make this stuff up.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
If insulting and threatening these workers weren't enough, we poison them and their babies in the service of "efficiency" and private greed. These are the same folks who abhor a woman's right to choose. It's OK to poison a fetus but not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, while ignoring a citizen's full, court-sanctioned constitutional right. You can't make this stuff up.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
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It's not entirely true that areas with the most frequent spraying (or gassing, or dusting) are always the lowest income. In California residential development has increasingly encroached on agricultural land, and many of those often affluent (think picturesque vineyards and orchards, as well as crops grown near the sea) homeowners have challenged the rights of long-established farmers to manage their lands as they always have. Wealthy kids, it seems, can also end up with a lot of pesticide exposure. And to those families lucky enough to vacation -- oops, I should say "Travel" -- out of the country often, you can be exposed to some horrific toxins. Look at the recent stories in the news about methyl bromide fumigation in hotels. People have been poisoned. Neurologically damaged. And one of the cases was in USVI, not overseas. So do not assume that your comfortable socioeconomic level makes you immune.
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This is exactly what Cesar Chavez wanted to prevent through his Farm Workers Union. He knew that unless farm workers gained power through a union they would always be subject to poor treatment by the land owners. He also knew illegal workers undermined the possibility of worker empowerment. So what we're seeing is the result of the US government ignoring immigration law by allowing millions of illegal aliens to enter the country and risk exploitation. At least the US Chamber of Commerce and its minions are satisfied with the arrangement.
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Yes, working class U.S. citizens have to choose to either be "Racist" and act in their own economic self interest by opposing basically a never-ending stream of scab (illegal) labor OR they can be "Humane" and just accept whatever working conditions are imposed on them by employers because of the available pool of scab labor.
This is why economic self interest and identity politics are totally incompatible.
This is why economic self interest and identity politics are totally incompatible.
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A great story, and prizes should go to Eskenasi and her team. We pay so little attention to the lives and health of those who harvest our food. I currently volunteer for the Western Farm Workers Association in Oregon. The lives of these workers are heartbreaking. Whether they work on organic or conventional farms. We will never have a decent agricultural system until we pay attention to the lives of these hard-working and always underpaid workers. Without them, we have nothing to eat!
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Be careful with the "we" accusation there, Shirley. Where I live (in an agricultural county) farm worker health, housing and education are primary concerns for the community and both city and county government.
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I pay attention to the working conditions of agricultural workers. And I'm willing to pay a lot more for strawberries than I already do. Get it?
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Shirley Abbott Tomkievicz,
As long as people are willing to work illegally and as long as businesses are willing to hire people here illegally this situation will continue. The citizens of the US ate very well before the influx of illegal workers. This is a recent form of exploitation in which both citizens and those here illegally are tools of big business supported by a corrupt government.
As long as people are willing to work illegally and as long as businesses are willing to hire people here illegally this situation will continue. The citizens of the US ate very well before the influx of illegal workers. This is a recent form of exploitation in which both citizens and those here illegally are tools of big business supported by a corrupt government.
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It is amazing what we will tolerate such business practices in a era of information and how little we access it and use it to make better and wiser choices. Money has always ruled the world and bid agri-buiness is no exception and it will till the end of days. Just ask Donald Trump.
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More and more iffy epidemiology with results entirely dependent on which statistical manipulations are applied to the data.
Bottom line: No smoking gun -- effects no different than one would find elsewhere in impoverished or itinerant children living without proper social structure and familial support.
Bottom line: No smoking gun -- effects no different than one would find elsewhere in impoverished or itinerant children living without proper social structure and familial support.
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You never will find causation qua 'smoking gun,' which makes it a pretty lame excuse for something being considered safe. After all, name 10 chemicals or pharmaceuticals that have definitively - causally - been found to be dangerous.
Save your time; you won't. Not even cigarettes can be said to *cause* cancer.
Hence, one looks for correlations and large populations for testing; deduction does work. Ask Sherlock :)
Save your time; you won't. Not even cigarettes can be said to *cause* cancer.
Hence, one looks for correlations and large populations for testing; deduction does work. Ask Sherlock :)
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Perhaps you should volunteer to pick lettuce in the chemical infested field for a while.
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I agree with the "iffy" description.
What irks me when I read about this kind of study, though, is the willful exclusion of the families who actually own and/or run the farms. I have many relatives who farm or came from farming families. The farmers themselves are exposed to pesticides, as are their spouses and children (there have been some cancers among my farming relatives that I attribute to pesticide exposure). But those who design these studies always seem to have a socioeconomic agenda, so they focus on the poorest workers. In my worldview, everyone matters equally. Everyone.
What irks me when I read about this kind of study, though, is the willful exclusion of the families who actually own and/or run the farms. I have many relatives who farm or came from farming families. The farmers themselves are exposed to pesticides, as are their spouses and children (there have been some cancers among my farming relatives that I attribute to pesticide exposure). But those who design these studies always seem to have a socioeconomic agenda, so they focus on the poorest workers. In my worldview, everyone matters equally. Everyone.
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