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A new PANNA report soon to be released compares airborne pesticide concentrations measured by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to the "acceptable" levels set by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and DPR through the risk assessment process. The analysis reveals that several widely used pesticides are regularly found off-site at concentrations that significantly exceed acute and chronic air exposure levels deemed "safe" by regulatory agencies, and contaminate the air for days and even weeks after use. Hundreds of thousands of Californians are affected, with children most at risk because they are growing and developing. Drift disproportionately affects farmworkers, but increasingly, those living in suburbs, schools, and offices are affected as more people move to the urban fringe, live, commute and recreate near areas of heavy pesticide use.
Widespread pesticide drift affects diverse communities across California
Virtually everywhere pesticides are used, they drift away from their intended target and can persist long after application. These "secondhand pesticides," like secondhand cigarette smoke, can cause serious adverse health effects.
Pesticide drift is any airborne movement of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.) away from the intended target. Drift includes droplets, dusts, volatilized vapor-phase pesticides, and pesticide-contaminated soil particles. Sometimes drift is very noticeable as a cloud of spray droplets or dust during application, or as an unpleasant odor afterwards. But it is frequently insidious--invisible to the eye and odorless--often persisting for days, weeks, or even months after application, as volatile chemicals evaporate and contaminate the air.
California leads the U.S. in pesticide use, with more than 315 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients sold in 2000. 1 More than 90% of pesticides used in the state--products used as sprays, dusts, or gaseous fumigants--are prone to drift. In outdoor settings; airborne pesticides are carried away from the application site by wind and on windblown soil particles. Drifting pesticides can travel for miles, resulting in widespread toxic air pollution. In indoor environments, vaporized pesticides can persist for weeks after an application, concentrating in the air closest to the floor--where children spend more of their time--and condensing on plastic items such as children's toys.
Pesticide drift causes acute poisonings and chronic illness, with children most at risk
Pesticide drift causes many acute...