Danger or false alarm?; Report says 4 million people live near where pesticides are used. State officials call the study alarmist and incomplete

By Deborah Schoch Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times August 20, 1998

Nearly 4 million Californians live near areas where pesticides are heavily used, a new report concludes, raising concerns about human exposure to potentially dangerous airborne chemicals.

They reside not only in the farming communities of the Central Valley but in fast-growing suburban enclaves such as Orange County, which ranks No. 1 statewide in the number of people living near the heavy use of known and suspected air contaminant pesticides, according to a report from the California Public Interest Research Group.

Fresno County ranked second in the study, Ventura County third, Riverside County sixth, San Diego County 10th and Los Angeles County a distant 11th.

The report, released Wednesday, was criticized by state pesticide regulators and a major agricultural group, which called it alarmist, incomplete and unscientific.

The study did not measure specific health problems, but stated that "given both the high mobility of these chemicals in the air and the numbers of people living near pesticide applications, widespread exposures and resulting impacts on public health may be inevitable."

In a state where housing tracts are springing up alongside bean fields and strawberry farms, regulators need to act more forcefully to ensure that airborne pesticides do not threaten public health, the study's authors said. They faulted the state Department of Pesticide Regulation for what they called woefully inadequate enforcement of a law dating to the early 1980s intended to protect people from pesticides in the air.

"We know that a lot of these chemicals are being used--millions of pounds each year--and millions of people are living nearby," said Jonathan Kaplan, toxics program coordinator for CalPIRG, an environmental research and advocacy group.

The report called for more stringent use of existing laws, expanded air monitoring, phaseouts of the riskiest pesticides, and buffer zones of open land between homes and pesticide-rich farmland.

State pesticide regulators and farming interests slammed the CalPIRG report, saying that it ignores authoritative data.

"CalPIRG's latest pronouncement is not a scientific study by any standard," James W. Wells, state pesticide regulation chief, said in a written statement, "and CalPIRG's statements about pesticides are clearly meant to frighten, rather than enlighten."

The report merely looked at how close people live to areas where pesticides are used, not exposure levels, said Bob Krauter, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation, the state's largest farm organization.

"CalPIRG is trying to say proximity equals risk. It's like saying that if you're standing on a street corner, you're in danger of being run over by a car," Krauter said. "People need to be extremely wary of a report like this."

A UC Riverside professor also sounded a note of caution about estimating the effects of pesticides.

"Just because it's there doesn't mean it's bad. You have to look at the concentrations," said Craig V. Byus, a professor of biomedical sciences and biochemistry and a member of a state scientific review panel examining airborne pesticides. Many factors must be weighed in assessing pesticide dangers, from amounts to how the chemicals travel, he said.

"I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, but you have to analyze all that information to come to a conclusion," Byus said.

CalPIRG officials acknowledged that the study did not look at amounts. "There's not been enough monitoring to know the extent of the exposures caused by these chemicals," Kaplan said. "The state doesn't know how many people have been exposed, or how much."

Others said the report focused much-needed attention on how Californians could be affected by chemicals that may waft through the air from nearby strawberry fields, orchards or even homes wrapped in plastic and fumigated for pests.

"Many of these fields where toxic chemicals are being sprayed are immediately adjacent to schools and homes," said Deborah Bechtel, a director of a pesticide monitoring group in Camarillo.

The report found that total pesticide use in California rose 31% from 1991 to 1995, and that the use of cancer-causing pesticides more than doubled.

In particular, the CalPIRG report took the state to task for what it called slipshod enforcement of the state's Toxic Air Contaminant Program, which is supposed to rank chemicals for their potential to taint the air and harm human health. The state is supposed to report on chemicals and regulate those found to pose significant risks. But the state conducted a full review process for only one chemical, ethyl parathion, since the law took effect 15 years ago, the report stated.

State pesticide officials said the report showed only part of the enforcement picture. They said that other regulations can be used more quickly to react to chemical dangers.

"CalPIRG gives the impression that the only law we have is this toxic air contaminant law," said Veda Federighi, a representative of the pesticide regulation department.

"This is a tack hammer. Our other laws are sledgehammers. . . . We have a lot more effective and quicker ways to deal with pesticides than this law."

CalPIRG also reports that pesticide air monitoring under the toxic air law is not conducted in 42 counties statewide, including Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

Those 42 counties accounted for more than 30% of all pesticide use statewide in 1995, the report said.

The state countered that in its air monitoring for pesticides, it targets areas of highest use during peak use seasons, such as areas of the Central Valley where more pesticides are used. That practice is intended "to give us the highest possible air readings," Federighi said.

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