On November 13, 1999, vapors of metam-sodium breakdown products from a potato field under fumigation drifted into the town of Earlimart, causing nausea, headache, breathing difficulty, and burning eyes and throat. One hundred and fifty residents were evacuated and 24 hospitalized, while countless others fled in their own vehicles or remained in their homes because they were not told to leave. To date, Earlimart residents continue to suffer from new or exacerbated cases of asthma and other respiratory illness that they attribute to this exposure. Resident evacuation was handled poorly. Evacuees were told to remove all clothing and washed down with no respect for modesty or protection from the cold.
In a historic settlement brought about through persistent efforts of Earlimart residents and the United Farmworkers Union, the pesticide application company agreed to pay a $75,000 fine without admitting wrong-doing, and was ordered to place another $75,000 into two trust funds to pay victims’ medical bills. Victims waited five months for payment of emergency medical bills. Costs for ongoing care of 28 victims with continued respiratory problems were not covered until the settlement payment 14 months later. Also in response, Tulare County adopted a halfmile buffer zone for metam-sodium sprinkler applications and a prohibition of night-time metam-sodium application. This falls short of the one-mile buffer zone for these applications imposed by two other counties following a similar incident earlier that year. The DPR’s pesticide illness database lists 170 cases.
Source:
MARGARET REEVES, PHD, KRISTIN S. SCHAFER, MA
Greater Risks, Fewer Rights: U.S. Farmworkers and Pesticides
INT J OCCUP ENVIRON HEALTH 2003;9:30–39
- Log in to post comments