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Guardian article focuses on residents of Lindsay, features organizer Angel Garcia
Tulare County Organizer Angel Garcia. Photo Credit: The Guardian
"Like a slow death" - a feature-length article in the Guardian (UK) newspaper - tells the stories of Tulare County residents whose lives and health have been impacted by exposure to chlorpyrifos, the brain-harming chemical that was scheduled for a nationwide ban in March. The ban was reversed at the last minute by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
"I'm being poisoned and I can't do anything about it. It's like a slow death." said Lindsay resident Luis Medellin, a 30-year-old dairy worker.
"We are very sick," added Irma Medellin, community organizer with El Quinto Sol de America, a Lindsay-based advocacy group that has studied chlorpyrifos exposure and advocated for the ban. "Everyone who lives in this community is affected."
A million pounds of chlorpyrifos was used in the county over the past five years, and more than 750 pounds was used less than a quarter mile from four public schools in a single year.
"Money is the law here," said Angel Garcia, Lindsay native and community organizer with El Quinto Sol de America. He and other local advocates are pushing California to be a
leader in the resistance to Trump
and ban chlorpyrifos in the absence of action by the EPA's.
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