Farmworker communities protest new regulation of cancer-causing pesticide as racist

The Department of Pesticide Regulation allows for 14 times more 1,3-dichloropropene in the air than the official State cancer risk level


Salinas, CA. On November 8th, in excess of fifty concerned Monterey Bay area residents gathered at the Monterey County Government Center in Salinas to protest a new regulation of a cancer-causing pesticide that is the third most used in the region, 1,3-dichloropropene. The speakers at the rally included Yanely Martinez, Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, Melissa Dennis, Beatriz Diaz, Noemi Chico, Ileana Miranda, Juan Moran, and Francisco Rodriguez. All made their feelings clear: this new regulation does not protect farmworker communities and is racist. Video of the event can be seen here: https://fb.watch/obTzsDJpya/?mibextid=Nif5oz.

In June of 2022, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a lifetime cancer warning level or “no significant risk level” (NSRL) for the cancer-causing pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene (aka 1,3-D, brand name Telone) of 3.7 micrograms per day.[1]

Breathing air contaminated with 0.04 parts per billion (ppb) of 1,3-D exposes one to 3.7 micrograms per day.[2]

Dow Chemical, the manufacturer of 1,3-D, argued with OEHHA that the NSRL for 1,3-D should be 50 micrograms per day, the equivalent of breathing air concentrated with 0.56 ppb of 1,3-D.[3]

Novermber 7th, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) sent its new regulation for 1,3-D use regarding residential bystanders to the Office of Administrative Law, setting the target exposure level at 0.56 ppb – allowing for 14 times more 1,3-D in the air than the State’s official lifetime cancer risk warning level, and aligning perfectly with Dow Chemical’s stated desires.[4]

“Rather than creating a 1,3-D regulation that complies with the findings of our State scientists, DPR has created a weaker, separate and unequal cancer risk standard for the farmworker communities disproportionately exposed to 1,3-D applications. This is environmental racism in the service of Dow’s corporate profits,” said Francisco Rodriguez, Secretary Treasurer of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.

The three pesticide air monitors the State has employed in Monterey County at Ohlone Elementary School (2012-2021), the Salinas airport (2011-2016), and in Chualar (2017-2020) have all registered average air concentrations of 1,3-D above OEHHA’s lifetime cancer risk warning level of 0.04 parts per billion.[5]

Melissa Dennis, Ohlone Elementary teacher, expresses concerns that her students and colleagues are harmed by 1,3-D.

“I have had too many students and worked with too many colleagues who have suffered from cancer,” said Melissa Dennis, a third grade teacher at Ohlone Elementary where the student population is more than 95% Latino and Indigenous. “DPR’s cruel message to us at Ohlone [Elementary School] is that we are worth 14 times less to them. So, my students get to breathe 14 times more cancer-causing pesticides than is safe – that’s what DPR thinks of Latino and Indigenous kids.”

The community concerns about the environmental racism of the 1,3-D policy extend throughout both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. 1,3-D is the third most used pesticide in the Monterey Bay region, at more than one million pounds in 2021.[6] More than 88% of all 1,3-D applications by pounds in the two counties occurred in the 14 Latino-majority zip codes. In those 14 zip codes more than three-quarters (77%) of both counties’ Latinos and two-thirds (66%) of Indigenous people live, but only 18% of the region’s White (“Not Hispanic”) people.[7]

Yanely Martinez, Safe Ag Safe Schools organizer and Greenfield City Councilmember commented: “The impact of DPR’s regulation, to create a separate and 14 times weaker standard of protection for Latino and Indigenous farmworker communities where most 1,3-D is applied, is straight-up racist.”

What is 1,3-dichloropropene?

The pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene or 1,3-D was first registered in the US in 1954 (California, 1970) as a soil fumigant used to control nematodes. It has been manufactured by Dow Chemical under the brand Telone II.[8] 1,3-D is a colorless to straw-colored liquid with a sharp, sweet, irritating odor. It is a drift-prone fumigant pesticide used to kill organisms in the soil prior to planting, applied mostly on strawberry and grape fields in the Monterey Bay region.

The fumigant is Injected into the ground or applied by drip lines and typically—but not always--covered with tarps. 1,3-D drifts initially from wind and later from volatilization for many miles at health-harming concentrations. The pesticide may also get into our water supply, as did a previous version of Telone discontinued in the late 1980s, which contained the carcinogen 1,2,3-TCP that persists in some California water systems to this day.[9]

What are the health risks associated with 1,3-D?

Acute harms include immediate exposure symptoms from high air levels due to drift: irritation of skin and nose, as well as possible slow weight gain in infants. Very high exposure to 1,3-D, such as a spill, can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, depression and damage to liver, intestines, and bladder, and difficulty breathing.[10]

The long-term health threats from chronic exposure to even tiny amounts of 1,3-D over time can cause cancer, damage to the lining of the nose, and may pollute groundwater. 1,3-D is listed as a Prop 65 carcinogen and a Toxic Air Contaminant by the State of California.[11]

1,3-D is banned in 34 countries,[12] but not in the US. The pesticide was prohibited in California between 1990 and 1995 after high air concentration levels were recorded in the Central Valley.[13]

Juan Moran of the United Farm Workers concluded with a quote from Cesar Chavez: “Cesar said about pesticides, ‘The stench of injustice in California should offend every American. Some people, especially those who just don’t care, or don’t understand, like to think that the government can take care of these problems. The government should, but won’t.’ DPR’s regulation of 1,3-D is just another example of the stench of injustice my friend Cesar talked about. He said we need to fight back with ‘people power’, and that is what we are doing today.”
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Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) is a diverse, statewide coalition of 200+ member groups working to strengthen pesticide policies in California to protect public health and the environment. Member groups include public and children's health advocates, clean air and water groups, health practitioners, environmental justice groups, labor, education, farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates from across the state. Safe Ag Safe Schools (SASS) is the Monterey Bay regional affiliate of Californians for Pesticide Reform with branches in Greenfield, Salinas, and Watsonville, as well as the new regional youth group SASS Future Leaders of Change.

The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council (MBCLC) is the local body of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). It is a membership organization serving as a coalition of the Labor Community in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Over 80 unions are affiliated with the MBCLC, representing more than 37,000 union members and their families. The mission of the MBCLC is to improve the lives of workers, their families, and our community – to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to the nation.

[1] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/proposition-65-no-significant-risk-level-13-dichloropropene-13-d

[2] To convert daily exposures in micrograms to air concentrations in parts per billion, we used the following equation: Air concentration (ppb) = [[daily exposure (micrograms)]/[breathing rate of 19.6 liters per day]]*.216 (conversion factor based on molecular weight). 1,3-D’s molecular weight is 111.

[3] Dow Chemical: “OEHHA should adopt a regulatory default NSRL for 1,3-D of at least 50 micrograms/day.” https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/13-dnsrlsfsorfinalremediated.pdf, p. 12.

[4] The regulation had not been posted on November 7th, but Californians for Pesticide Reform received from DPR a copy that was awaiting approval from the Office of Administrative Law.

[5] Ohlone Elementary: 0.10 ppb annual average, DPR presentation to Pesticide Registration and Evaluation Committee, “2021 1,3-D Ambient Air Monitoring Results,” slide 29. Salinas airport: 0.09 ppb, “Air Monitoring Network Report: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Results (2011 – 2016),” DPR, June 2018, p. 38. Chualar east well: 0.06 ppb, DPR presentation to the Pesticide Registration Evaluation Committee, “2019 1,3 D Ambient Air Monitoring Results,” slide 29. There are no pesticide air monitors in Santa Cruz County.

[6] Monterey County applied 783,508 pounds of 1,3-D; Santa Cruz County, 239,251, for a total of 1,022,759. https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pur/pur21rep/top5lists/top_5_chemical_subtotals_by_pounds_applied.pdf

[7] “Table 3c: Race (Hispanic Exclusive) and Hispanic Origin” for demographic Zip Code Tabulation Areas at the US Census Bureau (https://dof.ca.gov/reports/demographic-reports/census-2010/) for total population, “White alone, Not Hispanic,” “Hispanic or Latino,” and “American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Not Hispanic” populations; https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org for square mile data; https://calpip.cdpr.ca.gov/main.cfm for 1,3-D use by pounds by zip code, yielding 908,750 pounds within the following majority Latino zip codes: 93450, 93901, 93905, 93906, 93925, 93926, 93927, 93930, 93954, 93960, 95012, 95019, 95039, 95076.

[8] Salt Lake Holding LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical. https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/095290-00001-20221202.pdf

[9] https://cleanwater.org/tcp-californias-drinking-water

[10] https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1_3-Dichloropropene

[11] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/13-dichloropropene

[12] https://pan-international.org/pan-international-consolidated-list-of-banned-pesticides/

[13] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-16-mn-20641-story.html