Pesticide reform advocates selected for DPR's first-ever Environmental Justice Advisory Committee

The CPR coalition welcomes the first Environmental Justice Advisory Committee at DPR! The committee results from the passage of AB 652 (Asm. Alex Lee), which was sponsored by CPR, Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network, and Safe Ag Safe Schools.

The first committee includes CPR's co-director, two CPR steering committee members, and eight fabulous allies and community leaders, plus three amazing alternates.

The formation of the committee marks a major step toward increased transparency at the notoriously closed department, and has an important role in overseeing DPR's programs and ensuring that the voices of impacted communities are represented in decision-making processes. The committee will convene in the fall, and will be charged with reviewing and recommending improvements to the new pesticide notification program.

Introducing the first-ever EJAC:

1. Erika Alfaro – Public health nurse; Co-founder, California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice. 
2. Horacio Amezquita – Small farmer and environmental justice advocate. 
3. Martha Dina Argüello – Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles. 
4. Angel Garcia – Co-director, Californians for Pesticide Reform. 
5. Bianca Lopez – Executive Director, Valley Improvement Projects. 
6. Emily Marquez, PhD – Senior Scientist, Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network. 
7. Guadalupe Martinez – Former UFW leader; former Director, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. 
8. Sarait Martinez-Ortega – Executive Director, Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. 
9. Rocio Ortiz – Co-founder, Future Leaders of Change; student, CSU Monterey Bay. 
10. Mechelle Perea-Ryan, PhD – Physician with more than 30 years of service in agricultural communities. 
11. Tim Prado – Member, Comité Progreso de Lamont. 

And alternates: 

1. Robert Chacanaca – Retired educator and Native American labor organizer. 
2. John Mataka – Co-founder, Grayson Neighborhood Council. 
3. Victor Torres – Co-founder, Future Leaders of Change; student, Monterey Peninsula College. 

Congratulations to all!

DPR finalizes racist rule for cancer-causing 1,3-D;

It's not over, vows CPR coalition

Apparently, the "R" in DPR stands for Racism.

Despite losing in court three times, and in the face of thousands of public comments decrying the California Department of Pesticide Regulation's (DPR's) racist plan to leave farm working communities unprotected from the cancer-causing fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene, on Thursday the department announced that the regulation is now final, and no further changes will be made.

What this means for people living on the frontlines of 1,3-D exposure is the certainty of more respiratory ailments, more cancer, and more death.

The announcement on DPR's website states:

"DPR and OEHHA have reviewed all comments submitted on the modifications and are moving forward with the rulemaking package without further modification."

In other words, DPR's message to farm working communities: We heard you, but we just don't care.

Meanwhile, DPR has admitted that air monitoring results for 1,3-D have been consistently underreported for at least a decade, and that their model (on which the regulation depends) consistently underestimates higher emissions values.

Members of the CPR coalition expressed anger and disappointment at the decision, and vowed to continue the fight.

"This is not over," said co-director Angel Garcia. "If DPR thinks we will just shut up and go away, they are mistaken. Our communities are in the fight for their lives - literally."