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http://www.davidhwells.com
David Wells
Pesticide poisoning of farmland and farm workers occurs throughout America. The book, Silent Spring, raised a warning flag about the dangers of rampant pesticide use. We have come full circle as a nation of toxic chemical users. The outrage caused by the book sparked an environmental movement that swept across America in the 60's and 70's. Though we have started to clean up certain sectors of the environment, other hazards continue.
The situation is most dramatic among the approximately 300,000 farm workers and their families who live and work in California's Central Valley. The area is America's richest food producing region, yet the water, the air and the food carry known carcinogens. Years of using these chemicals have built up immunities in the pests; the farmers find they must use more of the pesticides each year to achieve the same results. Throughout the Valley there have been regular poisonings of the population and dramatic increases in the incidences of cancer among farm workers, families and Valley residents not directly involved with agriculture.
Within today’s political climate, where immigration reform is under discussion, some kind of guest worker program for farm workers will need to be one component of the debate.
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