FRENCH FRY FARM VS SICK RESIDENTS

Pesticide Drift, Sick Rural Residents Force Face-Off With Big Agriculture

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Pesticides can veer from their intended target and put people at risk in a variety ways, explained Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator for the University of Minnesota's Southwest Research and Outreach Center. Strong winds will send pesticides across great distances, and hot temperatures alone can be enough to cause pesticides to drift, said Riddle. 

From 2006 to 2009, in an effort to detect pesticides in the air they breathed, residents of central Minnesota set up air monitors on everything from back patios to school rooftops. One or more pesticides were found in 64 percent of 340 samples taken by the so-called drift catchers, according to results published by the nonprofit Pesticide Action Network in May. The most commonly detected chemical was a potato fungicide, chlorothalonil, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a "probable" carcinogen and "highly toxic" if inhaled. 

Chlorpyrifos, also detected in a number of samples, has been implicated in long-term health problems, including learning disabilities -- on top of known heart and breathing troubles. Just last Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new restrictions on the use of the pesticide, including a lower limit on how much can be applied, in order "to increase protection for children and other bystanders." 

"A lot of moms are wondering why their children are having increasing allergies and asthma. They're wondering why many are having miscarriages or children born with heart defects," said Wirtz, noting how much more vulnerable a fetus or child is to pesticide exposures, compared with an adult, and how grateful she is that her 8-month-old son, Jayden, wasn't in her bedroom during last month's incident. "After all this happened, I started doing research and making connections. I don't think a lot of people realize what's happening to them."

Big Ag companies use pesticides and herbicides in alarmingly large amounts and it is not only affecting our food (which is becoming more and more genetically modified to resist said toxins) but communities near these farms. Is it really worth having our "convenient" fast food in exchange for health problems its pesticides cause? Why aren't Big Ag companies like Monsanto held accountable for poisoning our environment and people?