State Puts Limits on a Pesticide Used for Strawberries, Other Crops

“California farmers must restrict their use of a tear gas-like pesticide applied to strawberries and other crops under new rules designed to protect farmworkers and people who live, work and go to school near agricultural fields,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The state Department of Pesticide Regulation on Wednesday announced the nation’s strictest limits on chloropicrin, a chemical that many farmers inject into the soil of strawberries, raspberries, almonds and other valuable crops. Hundreds of people have suffered respiratory ailments, skin irritation and headaches from the pesticide when it has leaked into the air in recent years, according to agency officials, who say use of the chemical has been increasing.”

Chloropicrin is the same chemical that a report last April by the California Environmental Health Tracking Program – a collaboration of the state Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute – found is the agricultural pesticide of public health concern that is applied mostly heavily near public schools.

Read the full Los Angeles Times article.

Photo by Al Seib of the Los Angeles Times

Originally published by Los Angeles Times