Growing Salads, Harming Children: Evaluating Pesticide Exposure & Extent of Policy Protection on School Children in Salinas Valley, CA from the 2000s-Present 

by Wafiza Julkipli

Site Description:

Often called “The Salad Bowl of the World”, Salinas Valley, California, is a major agricultural region that grows leafy greens that flourish on pesticides known to cause cancer, neurodevelopmental challenges, and metabolic disorders within children. Between the 2000s to the present, the proximity of these fields to local schools yielded concerns of chemical exposure raised by the community, leading to governmental policy enactment. In this research project, I will be examining why children of color and those from low-income families have experienced higher levels of exposure to these harmful pesticides. I will also explore the community’s activism in relation to these concerns and challenge to what extent governmental policies implemented were effective in protecting the children, especially those who are less privileged. As these specific minority groups are often victims of several environmental injustices, this project is salient in identifying what systems make them so vulnerable. Furthermore, questioning these environmental policies will ensure that future government action is not only well-intentioned but truly comprehensive in addressing community concerns. 

Author Biography:

I am a third-year biochemistry major at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a future physician, I want to better understand the environmental influences that could be impacting my patients’ health. Through this research, I hope to advocate for protection of human health from environmental injustice.

Final Report:

Introduction

On November 13, 1999 in Salinas Valley, CA, a local farm started their sprinklers, dowsing their crops for the next two hours. Within those two hours, the residents within a mile of the spraying began to smell a foul odor. After a few minutes of smelling this odor, they began to develop irritations of their skin, eyes, and respiratory tract. These health issues raised concerns for local officials, who worried for the health of their people. An evacuation of the area within a mile radius around the farm was put into place, as they found that the winds had carried metam sodium, a toxic chemical found in pesticides. The chemical was carried into the roads and homes of the local people and resulted in the hospitalization of 24 individuals for pesticide poisoning. 1

While the fumes of these pesticides had to be immediately addressed, similar chemicals silently penetrate the air of homes, schools, and workplaces in the Salinas Valley to this day. Known as the “Salad Bowl of America”, the Salinas Valley is home to several acres of farmland that grow leafy greens such as lettuce and kale. However, these greens thrive on the use of pesticides, which are sprayed daily and contain several concerning chemicals. While the pesticide poisoning incident from 1999 was the only one of its kind in the area, the past few decades have been defined by poor respiratory health in conjunction with other health consequences for children in Salinas. In fact, the local residents have been battling for years with the state government to enact stronger regulations to prevent these harmful pesticides from affecting the health of their children. 

However, the regulations passed by the state remain inadequate, as children are still experiencing pesticide-correlated health issues despite the regulations being passed. In addition, the ethnic and financial structure of the community suggests several structural inequalities that are likely causing these disproportionate health effects on low-income, Hispanic children. The following report will analyze to what extent the inadequacy of governmental regulations regarding the spraying of pesticides in Salinas Valley, CA is related to the socioeconomic status of the town’s residents, and more specifically, the town’s children. It will dissect the political activism of the communities involved and question the connection between legislature and these local movements. It will also investigate how systematic structures contribute to silencing the voices of those from minority ethnicities and groups. 

The start of this report will present a background of the demographics and agriculture within the Salinas Valley, followed by a discussion of the harmful health impacts of pesticides on children’s health. Then, it will analyze the community activism of local residents and nonprofit organizations and the effects these protests had on bringing out regulations from the state government. It will also address where these regulations fail and highlight how children are still suffering from these pesticides. Finally, several recommendations of proposed future action will be outlined. 

Background of Salinas Valley, CA

The Salinas Valley, CA is commonly known as the “Salad Bowl of America” due to its production of several major crops, including lettuce, spinach, and broccoli. The city of Salinas itself inhabits over 150,000 residents, a majority of which are migrant farmworker families, who fuel this major agricultural hub. The earliest migrants were Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino workers who began settling into the Salinas Valley around the 1800-1900s. Around the 1930s, the Great Depression prompted the migration of white farmworkers into the area, which raised tensions due to competition between the migrant workers and the white “American” workers, who believed these jobs belonged to them.2 In the following decades, the Bracero Program, brought millions of Mexican migrant workers for seasonal and annual work in the Salinas Valley, as a product of an agreement between Mexico and the United States. However, after the end of the program, the valley was dependent on immigrant labor and there was a rise of undocumented migration within the area. Today, a majority of the workers and families in the city are Hispanic and families of color who depend on farmwork to pay their bills. 3

When considering the composition of the community within Salinas, CA, the residents are largely people of color, especially migrant Latino farmworkers. These workers, along with their families, reside in the town seasonally or year-round and tend to the care of the crops, which involves close work with the pesticides being sprayed. When analyzing the financial status of the town through the EJScreen map, a majority of the residents were found to possess low annual incomes and several reports indicate these families living paycheck to paycheck. In fact, the highest level of educational attainment for a large proportion of the town is a high school diploma or some middle to high school education. 4

When considering the methods used to grow the crops in this area sufficiently, the farmlands within the valley rely heavily on pesticides, with Monterey County, the county of Salinas, CA, consistently being identified as the county with the most pesticide application in the state. In fact, 20% of the pesticides employed in CA contain fumigants, which are toxic, gaseous chemicals, including metam sodium, 1,3-dichloroproprene (1,3-DCP), and methyl bromide. Metam sodium, which was the main irritant found in the pesticide poisoning of 1999,  is known to damage the cells of the respiratory lining in the lungs. Methyl bromide irritates and destroys the cilia within the nasal pathways and esophagus. 1,3-DCP has been associated with tumor growth in the lung and inflammation of the respiratory tracts. Taken together, prolonged exposure to any of these fumigants alone or in conjunction has substantially negative implications for respiratory health.5 

Correlating the large proportion of farmworkers residing in the town with the respiratory health issues faced by the children, it is clear that the pesticide spraying of the farmlands poses a threat to the health of these families. These children are exposed to the chemicals clinging on the bodies of these workers when they come home after spraying fields. They are exposed to the chemicals clinging to the air as the pesticides drift in the air from fields to residential areas. They are exposed to pesticide particles in nearly every area of their town, whether it be schools, playgrounds, or daycare facilities. However, it is no coincidence that these children, who are ethnic minorities suffering from financial vulnerability, are the same children suffering from higher asthma rates and lower IQs compared to other children across the nation.6 Systematic environmental injustice has consistently put these children at risk and their minority position prevents them and their families from possessing enough power to request regulation and protection.

Health Impacts on Children

Children are typically more susceptible to illness than any other part of our population and their weaker immune systems leave them vulnerable to environmental hazards. Living in the city of Salinas, CA puts children at a higher risk of exposure to pesticides, as the city is surrounded on its entire west side by acres of farmlands. Rather than incidental exposure, the children of the Salinas Valley have been breathing in the fumes of these pesticides throughout their development, including the most critical periods of growth for language, intelligence, and overall immunity. Thus, these pesticides have certainly impacted their growth and function. 

Some may question how these pesticides could be so noxious if their spraying is confined to the fields around Salinas, CA and not within. Pesticides have a multifaceted approach to entering into the local residential environment. Like mentioned at the start of this report, pesticides can be airborne. During application of pesticides, small droplets can be transported by the wind to surrounding areas up to several miles away. Another form of secondary drift officers when pesticides evaporate from the plants they are sprayed upon into the air and these vapors can travel even farther. Para-occupational exposure is a term used to describe how the hazards of one’s working conditions can extend to those they live with or meet with. In this case, the farmworkers who spray these pesticides will likely have pesticide residues upon their clothes, shoes, and hair, regardless of whatever safety suits they wear during spraying.7 Thus, their children are exposed to these residues through direct physical contact with their parents or with the surfaces their parents have touched before decontamination in their home. Furthermore, direct environmental contact is possible, as pesticide particles can be carried through the wind and deposit onto soil and accumulate as dust inside and outside of homes. Children playing outside can easily come in contact with such residues in playgrounds at school and daycare.8

These numerous routes of exposure have led several researchers to study the impacts of pesticide exposure on children’s health, including their respiratory and neurological outcomes. One of the most prominent studies has been the CHAMACOS study, which was conducted by UC Berkeley. The study recruited over 600 pregnant women in the 2000s and followed their children’s health at the timepoints of their birth, infancy, childhood, through adulthood. They collected blood/urine samples, cognitive tests, lung function tests, and home dust samples every 1-2 years from these children. The most prominent finding from this study was that the children with the highest exposure to pesticides had major neurodevelopmental differences, with higher prenatal and childhood pesticide exposure being correlated with lower IQ of more than 7 points, especially at age 7. These children were also more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and behavioral issues like hyperactivity. The proposed mechanism of these alterations is organophosphate, which is a neurotoxic chemical found in pesticides that are used near Salinas Valley. In terms of respiratory health, reduced lung function was found in a majority of the children studied, with higher rates of respiratory health issues and asthma.  The study’s long-term approach also revealed that prenatal exposure was the most toxic to the children’s health, indicating that children of pregnant women living in the city are most at risk.9 In another study, referred to as the AIRE study performed by Columbia University, a year-long study of pesticide exposure within 400 meters of children’s homes was correlated with asthma and wheezing. They found that children with the highest exposure had more wheezing and higher rates of asthma, even when correcting for other contributing factors like secondhand smoke, insurance, and parental education.10 Overall, the results from multiple studies state the same findings: the exposure to pesticides has been significantly associated with poor respiratory and neurological health in children of the Salinas Valley, CA. 

Beyond these health results, these studies offer deeper insight into the populations being affected by these environmental hazards. The families studied were those with low educational attainment and low household income. They were primarily Mexican and Latina families who were immigrants themselves or descended from recent immigrants. The parents of these children were typically poor English speakers and a majority were fluent in Spanish. Some of the children were also enrolled in afterschool daycare programs, while their parents were still at work. These pieces of information about the background of these children and their families coalesce to suggest that the pesticide exposure has been disproportionately affecting minority groups, including people of color and those with low financial status. 

Community Activism 

Unfortunately, the Salinas Valley is not the only region in California plagued by the health issues caused by pesticide exposure. In fact, incidents like the metam sodium poisoning of November 1999 were not isolated and several emergency evacuations and mass hospitalization events have occurred all throughout the country. The patterns of wheezing, irritations of the skin, and poor childhood development mobilized parents, teachers, and other community members to start connecting these symptoms with the pesticide exposure that their children faced daily. The public dissent led to the formation of several community-based groups whose activism brought about governmental action. 

Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) is a well-known organization that was formed in 1996, which connects families to farmworker coalitions, scientists, and environmental justice organizations. Their main concern is raising awareness in communities of the threats these pesticides pose to human health and advocacy for stricter laws. More specifically, they demanded transparency and more research on the exact spread of these pesticides and where the drift was spreading to.11 A few years later, after the metam sodium poisoning occurred in 1999, local residents joined street-wide protests outside of local officials’ offices, demanding that the agricultural companies involved take responsibility for their pesticide use and any unintended consequences the spraying may have. They also wanted higher transparency, through notifications about when spraying would take place and buffer zones around schools and homes. These combined efforts led to administrative complaints towards the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and the County Agricultural Commissioners. The residents, alongside CPR, were explicit about the disappearance effect of pesticides, highlighting that the Latino community was severely affected much more than any other population.12 Though singular complaints aren’t well documented, the series of complaints built pressure on local authorities to research the pesticides, their chemicals, and their methods of exposure further. These protests carried on well into the 2014-2017, when the CPR began a “Protect Kids from Pesticides” campaign, where students, teachers, and parents would work together to protest outside of schools and on local roads. School boards were pressured to speak up about the issue and raise concerns to the government, with the Monterey School District passing resolutions in 2016 regarding support for activism against pesticides.13 

EarthJustice is a group of lawyers supporting several different environmental injustice issues across the country. Their help was salient across the state of California, as they raised a lawsuit alongside several farmworker coalitions, such as the United Farm Workers and PANNA in 2007. The lawsuit was against the Environmental Protection Agency, citing examples of how it failed to protect the children in Salinas and across the state of California from harm to their respiratory and neurological health. Their main findings cited were from the CHAMACOS study, which was focused in Salinas, as mentioned earlier. The specific chemical they were fighting against was chlorpyrifos, which is well studied and known for its neurotoxicity and irritant capacities in the respiratory tract. They won the lawsuit against the EPA, bringing about several important legislations to reduce pesticide use and ban chlorpyrifos in 2020.14

The work of local residents, EarthJustice, and CPR all demonstrate that the government was reactive to the plethora of health issues that pesticides caused, rather than protective. It took several decades of protests, complaints, and legal petitions for true change to be brought about, as the government failed to respond until the issue was escalated through these legal channels. Their delay in response and their lack of consideration for the people’s health prior to the poisoning events indicates a clear disregard for the health of these people. As a majority of the families affected were migrant residents of color, some undocumented as well, it can be reasoned that their inability to access legal channels easily is what led to decades-long exposure to pesticides with no protection from the government. Without help from organizations like Earthjustice, it is difficult to say whether the government would have brought about the restrictions and laws against pesticide that are now set in place today, which highlights how the legal system grants such little power to residents of color and low financial and educational status. 

Governmental Regulation & Inadequacy 

Following the activism of the community, several legislations were passed by the local and state government to protect the children and families in both the city of Salinas and the state overall from the harms of pesticide exposure. In 2017, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation passed regulations regarding buffer zones around schools and daycare centers. These buffer zones were about a quarter mile away from these hubs for children, with notifications being sent by growers to schools prior to any pesticide application. In this way, recess and outdoor school activities can be moved indoors as necessary. Furthermore, the spraying was limited during school hours from 6AM-6PM on weekdays.15 Unfortunately, this regulation falls short in fully protecting children, as homeschooled students, at-home outdoor activities, and playgrounds were not considered in the list of buffer zone regions. In addition, drift is unpredictable; it doesn’t restrict itself to ¼ of a mile away from schools, and many research studies have documented much larger zones of drift from their spraying site. The restriction of spraying during school hours is also inadequate in that students are often in after-school daycare programs or sports practice that extend into late hours of the day. As a result, these regulations appear to be a compromise rather than fully shielding the children from pesticide exposure overall.16 

Another law that was passed was the Pesticide Drift Exposure Act of 2005, which helped to improve the transparency of agricultural farming practices. This state-wide legislation proposed improved tracking of pesticide composition, the exposure of people to these types of pesticides, and where drift was extending to. It helped to log any significant cases of pesticide exposure and collect data for future regulations that may be necessary regarding pesticide restriction. A similar practice enforced around the same year by the Department of Pesticide Regulation is the Pesticide Use Reporting system, which required all agricultural companies and farmers to report the types of pesticides they were using, along with time, date, and location of their use.17 In conjunction, these regulations provide much more detail about the pesticides used and the data that the state and local communities have on the exact time and location of spraying. However, information is not protection. While gathering data about the incidents is crucial to formulate responses, the government has yet to use the information in such a manner. Such passive collection of data is not sufficient to protect children from these harms. Furthermore, even if families wanted to use this data to help protect their children, the database is complex and difficult for regular residents to comprehend, not to mention that a majority of these residents have less than high school education. Thus, the lack of regard for the type of population present within the communities of Salinas, CA indicates a clear systematic injustice issue.18

Finally, there have been several updates to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and labor laws within the state to improve the protection of farmworkers who spray the pesticides onto the many acres of fields in California. These laws are commendable for their improved training provided on pesticide handling and proper safety measures for these farmworkers. The required protective gear has also been upgraded with several restrictions on when farmworkers can return to fields after spraying without their gear to proceed with other farm duties. Nevertheless, this law is not comprehensive. While it reduces the health risks posed upon farmworkers, it doesn’t eliminate the para-occupational hazards that the children of farmworkers experience when the pesticides residue follow them from the farm to their homes.19 

In all of these legislations, there is very little attention granted to the alternative mechanisms of pesticide transmission, like take-home exposure and soil/dust residues settling over towns. The same research studies that link pesticide drift to poor health outcomes for children cite risks of pesticide settlement in soil, dust, and other platforms upon which children play and interact. In fact, the CHAMACOS study is a clear example of how the smallest exposure prenatally and during childhood can have substantial impacts on neurodevelopment. In fact, the “low-level exposure” that legislation deems acceptable during and outside of school hours, can actually be incredibly powerful in attacking the immunity of children, whose bodies can barely handle these low concentrations of air-borne pesticides. The sustained pattern of such ignorance by governmental regulators indicates that the system has created a structural inequality in which communities, with low-income families of color who lack political power, are consistently unprotected, despite clear evidence of harm to human health.20 

 

Future Action

The insufficiency of legislation highlights a clear call to action for local, state, and federal governmental bodies to prevent similar cases of environmental injustice and racism in the future. The most ideal course of action would be elimination of hazardous chemicals from pesticides. Agricultural companies and farmers find the use of these pesticides lucrative due to their significant harvests. Thus, funding should go towards research on natural pesticides and synthetic compounds with no harmful effects on human health, despite spread through drift. Banning these chemical pesticides and promoting the use of natural substances would reduce the overall health impact on children and their families. 

Regardless, research is a lengthy process and we are likely far from the ban of these chemicals from these farms. Thus, it is salient to provide improved protection for children and pregnant women from these chemicals. The data collected about pesticide drift from existing databases should be utilized to adjust buffer zones to match the real drift length of these pesticides, with different zone lengths based on the type of pesticide, as their drift mechanics often vary. Likewise, the other mechanisms of pesticide drift should be addressed. In particular, farmworkers should be provided with decontamination procedures that are developed by scientists to avoid bringing home pesticide residues to their children. These procedures should come at no additional cost or time for these workers, whose wages are already minimal. Moreover, the timing of these pesticides should be communicated with families in a digestible manner, whether that be notifications in Spanish or visual notifications for those who have little-to-no literacy. 

Discussing the systematic environmental injustice issues raised in this report, it is evident that people of color who have low educational attainment and/or low financial status should not be restricted by these factors in terms of their political contributions. More specifically, these communities should be empowered to speak up against the issues that they face daily, whether it be with pesticides or work conditions. Furthermore, one of the main issues in Salinas regarding pesticide activism was that it took decades for any real legislation to be passed regarding pesticide exposure for children. Therefore, local town hall meetings should be held, in multiple languages as necessary, with real communication between local officials and state authorities. Without such reporting of the issues raised, the discussions of the meetings have no real legislative implications and the people lack political power. By having these discussions in person, educational and technological barriers to understanding can be removed for these families.21 

 

Conclusion

The drift of metam sodium onto the local residents of Salinas resulted in several hospitalizations of children, farmworkers, and families in November of 1999. The incident was salient in calling attention to the risks faced by families living near agricultural zones within California. It sparked protests that eventually led to local regulations being passed. Yet, for decades, children have been experiencing developmental harms to their intelligence, focus, and learning as a result of the very same pesticides. These harms were well documented in several research studies, but no legislature was passed until residents expressed dissent and protested for years on end. Thus, it is clear that government regulators often only pay heed to the suffering of minority residents when there are large numbers to project and extensive media coverage. Clearly, the system must change to value the opinions and health of our people, even when issues may seem small at first glance. 

The children of Salinas Valley, CA experienced decades of disproportionate effects of pesticide exposure as a result of poor regulation. The CHAMACOS study and AIRE study are two of many examples of documented research that highlights the detrimental effects of these chemicals on human health overall, with direct evidence linking pesticides to these health consequences. These studies, along with incidents of poisoning, prompted residents to join forces with organizations like EarthJustice and Californians for Pesticide Reform in hopes of protecting their children from these chemicals. Their message was clear: children should not have to be exposed to noxious chemicals while attending school. Their consistent efforts built up to the passing of several legislations, including the banning of certain chemicals, new notification systems, and research databases for pesticide tracking. However, these laws and regulations fall short, as they do not encapsulate the entire risk of pesticide exposure mechanisms and fail to adequately control the exposure rather than simply notify families and schools about it. 

The events regarding pesticide exposure in Salinas Valley, CA in the 2000s teach us that we need to provide voices to communities, especially those that are formed by migrant workers who lack political power. These individuals face harsh working conditions and unfair racism that needs to be addressed by the government to bring about real change in the quality of their lives, so their voices need to be the most amplified. Lack of education and financial resources should not bring upon environmental injustice. In the future, we must as a society work to communicate our needs to local and state authorities in a manner in which they may be valued. Similarly, governmental bodies should strive to value the needs of their people and form task forces for these needs immediately, being preventative rather than remediative. 

Endnotes

  1. (“H 3 c N c S EVALUATION of METHYL ISOTHIOCYANATE as a TOXIC AIR CONTAMINANT” 2002)
  2. Mckibben, Carol. 2022. “The Story of Salinas: A Tale of Two Labor Movements.” Monterey Herald. November 11, 2022. https://www.montereyherald.com/2022/11/11/the-story-of-salinas-a-tale-of-two-labor-movements/.
  3. Adam Benjamin et al., eds., The American Yawp (Stanford University Press, 2023), https://www.americanyawp.com/. 
  4. “EJScreen.” 2020. Azurewebsites.net. 2020. https://pedp-ejscreen.azurewebsites.net.
  5. Gunier, Robert B., Rachel Raanan, Rosemary Castorina, Nina T. Holland, Kim G. Harley, John R. Balmes, Laura Fouquette, Brenda Eskenazi, and Asa Bradman. 2018. “Residential Proximity to Agricultural Fumigant Use and Respiratory Health in 7-Year Old Children.” Environmental Research 164 (July): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.022.
  6. Gunier, R B, M E Harnly, P Reynolds, A Hertz, and J Von Behren. 2001. “Agricultural Pesticide Use in California: Pesticide Prioritization, Use Densities, and Population Distributions for a Childhood Cancer Study.” Environmental Health Perspectives 109 (10): 1071–78. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.011091071.
  7. “Widely Used Pesticide in Food Production Damages Children’s Brains EPA Science on Chlorpyrifos Ignored as Agency Reverses Decision to Stop Insecticide’s Agricultural Use.” n.d. Accessed May 9, 2026. https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/bp-37.4-w17-Chlorpyrifos-cited.pdf.
  8. Shekhar, Chander , Reetu Khosya, Kushal Thakur, Danish Mahajan, Rakesh Kumar, Sunil Kumar, and Amit Kumar Sharma. 2024. “A Systematic Review of Pesticide Exposure, Associated Risks, and Long-Term Human Health Impacts.” Toxicology Reports 13 (November): 101840–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2024.101840.
  9. Stein, Lauren. 2016. “Early Childhood Adversity Potentiates the Adverse Association between Prenatal Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Child IQ: The CHAMACOS Cohort.” NeuroToxicology 56 (September): 180–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2016.07.010.
  10. Horne, Van, Jill E Johnston, Dayane Duenas Barahona, Mitiasoa Razafy, Elizabeth M Kamai, Brandyn C Ruiz, Sandrah P Eckel, Esther Bejarano, Luis Olmedo, and Shohreh F Farzan. 2024. “Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides and Wheezing among 5–12-Year-Old Children in the Imperial Valley, CA, USA.” Environmental Epidemiology 8 (5): e325–25. https://doi.org/10.1097/ee9.0000000000000325.
  11. “Californians for Pesticide Reform.” n.d. CPR. https://www.pesticidereform.org.
  12. Crossfield, Paula. 2014. “FERN Report Examines Long-Term Study on Pesticides’ Impact on Children of Farmworkers | Food and Environment Reporting Network.” Food and Environment Reporting Network. March 13, 2014. https://thefern.org/blog_posts/fern-report-examines-long-term-study-on-pesticides-impact-on-children-of-farmworkers/.
  13. “Greenfield School Board Supports Ag Pesticide Safety – Salinas Valley Tribune | Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield CA.” 2018. Salinas Valley Tribune | Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield CA. March 14, 2018. https://salinasvalleytribune.com/greenfield-school-board-supports-ag-pesticide-safety/.
  14. Fisher, Elizabeth. n.d. “Counsel for Petitioners and Plaintiffs in the SUPERIOR COURT for the STATE of CALIFORNIA for the COUNTY of MONTEREY.” https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/final-verified-petition-and-complaint-w-exhibits.pdf.
  15. “Pesticide Use near Schools.” 2018. County of San Mateo, CA. 2018. https://www.smcgov.org/agwm/pesticide-use-near-schools.
  16. Gunier, Robert B., Asa Bradman, Kim G. Harley, and Brenda Eskenazi. 2017. “Will Buffer Zones around Schools in Agricultural Areas Be Adequate to Protect Children from the Potential Adverse Effects of Pesticide Exposure?” Edited by Linda S. Birnbaum. PLOS Biology 15 (12): e2004741. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004741.
  17. “Pesticide Applications near Schools and Child Care Facilities.” 2026. Department of Pesticide Regulation. March 25, 2026. https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/enforcement/pesticide-applications-near-schools-and-child-care-facilities/.
  18. “EPA Announces New, Earlier Protections for People from Pesticide Spray Drift | US EPA.” 2024. US EPA. July 15, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-new-earlier-protections-people-pesticide-spray-drift.
  19. EPA. 2019. “Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Federal Facilities | US EPA.” US EPA. June 12, 2019. https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/federal-insecticide-fungicide-and-rodenticide-act-fifra-and-federal-facilities.
  20. Guth, Anna FitzGerald. 2025. “Calif.’S ‘Salad Bowl’ Putting Locals at Risk with Pesticide Exposure.” SFGATE. October 14, 2025. https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/pesticides-monterey-california-21094899.php.
  21. On. 2023. “On the Frontlines of Pesticide Exposure.” Palabra. February 7, 2023. https://www.palabranahj.org/archive/on-the-frontlines-of-pesticide-exposure.

 

Primary Sources:

 

  • Exposure to agricultural pesticides and wheezing among 5–12-year-old children in the Imperial Valley, CA, USA

  • Agricultural Pesticide Use Near Public Schools in California

  • Catching the Drift: Salinas Valley residents live with pesticides beyond the fields

    • Author: Diego Picazo from Monterey County Youth Media

    • Year: 2018

    • Link: https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2018/07/26/catching-the-drift/

    • Location: Voices of Monterey Bay Newspaper

    • Description: This news article contains interviews of several Salinas Valley residents, including that of concerned parents, teens, and county officials. The varied opinions are necessary in understanding the community’s response and opinion with regards to the pesticide use. 

  • Greenfield school board supports ag pesticide safety

    • Year: 2018

    • Link:https://salinasvalleytribune.com/greenfield-school-board-supports-ag-pesticide-safety/

    • Location: Salinas Valley Tribune

    • Description: This news article details the school board’s response to the harm done by pesticides to their students’ health, with information on Resolution 1003. The resolution, made to protect children through limiting pesticide spraying hours, was raised by the community and agreed upon by the school district’s board of trustees.

  • Petition for Judicial Review of Approval on Toxic Pesticide Permits

    • Author: Elizabeth Fisher & Gregory Loarie  

    • Year: 2024

    • Link:https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/final-verified-petition-and-complaint-w-exhibits.pdf

    • Location: EarthJustice Website

    • Description: This petition, raised by community activist groups and teachers coalitions, was made to request review on permits signed by the mayor to allow for toxic pesticide spraying near schools. This document provides insight into the actions taken by the community against the pesticide use and illuminates their specific grievances with the government. 

 

Exposure to agricultural pesticides and wheezing among 5–12-year-old children in the Imperial Valley, CA, USA

In this research study performed by Columbia University, Horne et al. attempted to determine if there is a correlation between agricultural pesticide exposure and respiratory health. In particular, a cohort of approximately 700 children living in Imperial Valley, CA were tested for asthma and wheezing. The children’s demographic information, including age, sex, and household financial capacity, were collected along with their proximity to an agriculture region that sprayed pesticides at least once within the past year. The researchers controlled for secondhand smoke exposure and maternal smoking during pregnancy to control for other causes of poor respiratory health. The results revealed that children with higher exposure to pesticide spraying were 10% more likely to experience wheezing. Thus, this article suggests that pesticide spraying near the schools and homes of children is likely to have adverse health effects, especially through drift of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos and glyphosate. 

Within the publication, the authors report several statistics from questionnaires to support the negative effects of pesticides on children’s health. They state how, “children in the “high” total pesticide exposure group had a prevalence of 12-month prior wheeze that was 10 percentage points higher than that of children not exposed to any pesticides.” Thus, the statistical significance of this comparison highlights the correlation between pesticides and wheezing. In addition, the authors report in their discussion how, “sulfur, the organophosphorus pesticide chlorpyrifos, and the herbicide glyphosate are all considered respiratory irritants…Organophosphorus pesticides contribute to airway hyperreactivity via neurogenic inflammation.” Evidently, the cause of the wheezing experienced by the children is likely the presence of these organophosphorus chemicals within pesticides, which are known to irritate the lungs and encourage inflammation. Lastly, the authors clarify how, “the majority of the children in the AIRE cohort are not from a household where a parent or caretaker is a farmworker. This suggests that pesticide drift and inhalation may be of greater concern than the take-home exposure pathway.” The AIRE cohort is a major component of the study’s participants, which suggests that the harmful effects of pesticides are not primarily from pesticide residues found on the parents of these children. Rather, they are from the drift of these pesticides out of agricultural zones into local residential areas. This distinction is imperative to highlight the method of exposure. Overall, the research study presents a strong case against the use of pesticides near schools and residential areas, as children are experiencing respiratory irritation from this spraying.

Secondary Sources:

Gunier, Robert B., et al. “Will Buffer Zones around Schools in Agricultural Areas Be Adequate to Protect Children from the Potential Adverse Effects of Pesticide Exposure?” PLOS Biology, edited by Linda S. Birnbaum, vol. 15, no. 12, Dec. 2017, p. e2004741, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004741.

In this source, Gunier presents a scientific evidence-based commentary on the governmental policies placed in California to protect children from the harmful effects of pesticide exposure from local farms, which are often within the vicinity of schools. The article details the current policy, including the time and distance metrics that regulate pesticide application. This discussion is followed by a questioning of whether these metrics can be considered safe, which is based upon current scientific research on the persistence of pesticide fumes and contaminants within residential areas surrounding their application. This paper is necessary to understand the scientific basis of the policies enacted by the California government, rather than simply knowing the policies themselves. The paper’s critique of the policies provides an understanding of their limitations from a scientific standpoint. The paper also discusses several research studies on children, which could be excellent primary sources to find which populations were more affected (lower-income, race, etc.). Overall, this paper provides a policy perspective on my investigation. 

Schwartz, Norah Anita, et al. “‘Where They (Live, Work And) Spray’: Pesticide Exposure, Childhood Asthma and Environmental Justice among Mexican-American Farmworkers.” Health & Place, vol. 32, no. 1353-8292, Mar. 2015, pp. 83–92, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.12.016.

In this source, a collection of conversations with local Mexican-American farmworkers and their families is analyzed to highlight the impact of pesticide exposure on their health. The authors collected interviews and photographs of the local community in the San Joaquin Valley and compiled their collective concerns and health issues, such as asthma, which are linked to the heavy pesticide application in the area. The composite analysis of the disproportionate effects of pesticide use is a central theme in my investigation, thereby rendering this paper’s analysis significant. While my site of interest is not the San Joaquin Valley, there is also a substantial Mexican-American population in the Salinas Valley, which likely had similar health concerns and impacts. This paper, in particular, provides a history of pesticide exposure around not only schools in California’s agricultural regions, but also around play and work areas, highlighting multiple sites of exposure for these children. Overall, this source provides a perspective on the human impacts of pesticide use. 

 

EarthJustice. “Teachers, Community Groups, and Farmworkers File Lawsuit Challenging Toxic Pesticide Approvals near Public Schools in Monterey County.” Earthjustice, 21 Apr. 2025, earthjustice.org/press/2024/teachers-community-groups-and-farmworkers-file-lawsuit-challenging-toxic-pesticide-approvals-near-public-schools-in-monterey-county. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.

In this news article by EarthJustice, a non-profit organization for environmental activism, a legal request is presented to the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner to reconsider pesticide permits issued near schools within the Salinas Valley. The article includes an attachment of the request, formulated by community activists and legally represented by the EarthJustice team, along with a description of how it was brought about. This source helps provide an activist perspective for the project, by describing the concerns of residents and community groups and how they voiced them. The community groups are named, along with testimonies from key individuals for this project including the director of the Center for Farmworker Families, the senior attorney for the case, and several other leaders. These individuals touch upon the impacts of the recent pesticide exposure on latino families in particular, which helps in documenting the disparity for my investigation and in determining how the community stood up against it. 

 

Data Analysis:

Socioeconomic Analysis of Pesticide Drift in Salinas, CA 

Salinas, CA is the most populated city in Monterey County, with its eastern borders surrounded by farmlands. Its proximity to these agricultural regions has rendered the city’s children vulnerable to respiratory health issues due to chemical drift of pesticides sprayed on the farms. The software used to gather data regarding this issue is the Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, which contains environmental and socioeconomic indicators about regions across the United States. To investigate the population affected in Salinas specifically, a linear path was made from the eastern edge of the city to its center, with a buffer of 0.25 miles on each side of the path. A linear path from the farmlands was chosen to track the residents affected by the diffusion of the pesticides from their spraying sites. The buffer zone was drawn large enough to cover a majority of the city and it included a population of 7,228 people. In this data analysis, I will question what types of populations,  defined by demographic factors like race and education, are being impacted by the pesticide drift.

When examining the environmental data, the most prominent comparison between the site’s average and that of the United States was risk management program (RMP) proximity. RMP proximity refers to designated areas for storage of hazardous chemicals. The site chosen is in the 99th percentile for proximity to these storage sites, with an average value that is 9.4 times the national average. This high value is significant, as these sites when placed near agricultural areas typically store agricultural chemicals and function as fertilizer and pesticides distribution centers. In conjunction with this statistic, the site is in the 74th percentile for proximity to buildings that handle hazardous waste, with an average that is 1.1 times the national average. Thus, the agricultural zones may not only be impacting this population’s health through pesticide drift, but also through chemical exposure from the storage sites and nearby hazardous waste handling. 

Another environmental pollution source of interest is particulate matter. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) is an indicator for high levels of particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller. These particles are salient as they are small enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream and can be inhaled deeply into the lungs. The site measured is in the 41st percentile for this indicator, with a value similar to the national average. The significance of this indicator to pesticide drift is the potential for these small airborne particles to carry pesticides into residential areas away from their spraying site. Thus, while this factor doesn’t directly indicate the presence of pesticides in the air within Salinas, it does provide a mechanism for their transport from the farmlands. 

Considering the population living within the buffer zone placed in Salinas, 56% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, which is 3.3 times the national average, indicating an aggregation of this race within the city. The only other major race is White, representing 33% of the population. Of these residents, 39% speak non-English languages in their homes, with 76% of these households speaking Spanish. These statistics suggest that the families could potentially be unable to receive information or share their opinions about any environmental injustice issues due to the language barrier. Another significant demographic factor lies in age, as 9% of the population is under the age of 5 and this value is 1.6 times the national average, indicating a higher number of younger individuals. As this investigation primarily focuses on the impact of pesticides on children’s health, this statistic supports that this town has a slightly higher proportion of children. In terms of economic status, this site is in the 56th percentile for unemployment rate, 75th percentile for residents without a high school education, and 52nd percentile for residents with low income in the country. When combining these factors, it is clear that this population generally has lower educational attainment and lower financial status. 

From the data collected and the analysis presented, it is evident that the environmental issues found within Salinas, CA are disproportionately affecting residents of a specific race and financial status. The proximity to RMP facilities and hazardous waste already indicates a higher chemical exposure burden on these residents in comparison to the rest of the country, potentially making them even more vulnerable to the pesticide drift from the agricultural zones. The higher particulate matter value suggests a potential mechanism for the pesticides to drift from the farmlands. The population affected is primarily families that have less education and lower English proficiency, suggesting that they may not be aware of these environmental issues, as they do not have access to or cannot read the information posted about them. In addition, they may not be able to protest these issues with officials due to their language barrier. Furthermore, these families have low income and higher unemployment, which could prevent them from accessing healthcare needed for the respiratory issues caused by the pesticide drift. 

To conclude, the environmental injustice issue in Salinas is a pattern seen continuously in the post-World War II period in the United States. The United States experienced substantial economic growth during this period after innovation occurred in the agricultural sector, especially with technology that made farmwork more efficient. The novel tools paired with chemical advances in pesticide development yielded economic prosperity for some corporate agricultural groups in the country. However, the actual workers on these farms are usually migrant Hispanic workers with low education and low income that need to reside close to their working areas to minimize travel. Thus, the workers and their families often experience the most significant health impacts from these pesticide drifts, unfairly putting these populations at risk consistently. 

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