We feel that it is important to publish the report from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN Experts Slam Global Pesticide Industry for Human and Environmental Damage – Full Report estimating that our children, the most vulnerable of our populations, are dying from pesticide exposure at an alarming rate. Consider the California Department of Pesticide Regulation website’s data on toxic chemicals like glyphosate (Round-Up) and the sky rocketing use in vineyards. Sonoma County with the most acreage used 84,606 pounds of the concentrate, Napa with the second most acreage at 50,416 pounds and Mendocino with 17, 627 pounds of glyphosate. All chemicals combined, Sonoma County was well over 2,200,000 pounds of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides spread yearly on the vineyards.
With data linking childhood cancer rates in our state of California, Napa is number one and Sonoma tied for number 3 why are we not protecting our children and the environment they depend on to be healthy and vital? Wine & Water Watch has supported PANNA in their work to provide safety zones around schools to protect schoolkids. How about extending this to nursing homes, child care and hospitals like Santa Barbara.
According to the report posted on Organic Consumers Association, in reviewing the study:
“Chronic exposure to pesticides has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, hormone disruption, developmental disorders and sterility. Farmers and agricultural workers, communities living near plantations, indigenous communities and pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure and require special protections. The experts warn that certain pesticides can persist in the environment for decades and pose a threat to the entire ecological system on which food production depends. The excessive use of pesticides contaminates soil and water sources, causing loss of biodiversity, destroying the natural enemies of pests, and reducing the nutritional value of food. The impact of such overuse also imposes staggering costs on national economies around the world.”
Direct link to full UN report.