June 2022
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Californians demand the right to know in advance about pesticide use
DPR to hold three on-line workshops to discuss notification proposal
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation is hosting three workshops next week in English and Spanish to hear public comment on their proposed pesticide notification program.

Choose a day based on your availability and connect by Zoom or by phone.

Your voice matters!

Monday June 27: 1-3pm
Meeting ID: 862 8621 6806
Passcode: 956220
Call In Number: +1 669 900 9128

Tuesday June 28: 10am-12pm
Meeting ID: 864 0391 2510
Passcode: 820345
Call In Number: +1 669 900 9128

Wednesday June 29: 6-8pm
Meeting ID: 817 5117 9873
Passcode: 617414
Call In Number: +1 669 900 9128
Join us! Tell CARB that pesticides belong in the 2022 Scoping Plan
CARB Board will hear public comment on the 2022 Scoping Plan on Thursday June 23
On Thursday June 23, the California Air Resources Board will be hearing public comment on the Draft 2022 Scoping Plan - the state's five-yearly plan for achieving its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

For the first time ever, the draft plan recognizes the role of pesticides in exacerbating climate change, and the role of organic agriculture in mitigating it. But the plan needs to include ambitious and measurable targets for organic adoption and hazardous pesticide reduction!

You can help! Join us in Sacramento or call in via Zoom or phone, and demand that agriculture be part of the climate solution.

How to join the meeting at 9am on June 23:
You can livestream the board meeting here, or register here for the Zoom link if you want to make a public comment.

Or join us and give your public comment in person! We'll be gathering at the CalEPA building, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, at 8:30am, with a rally and press conference planned for noon.


State establishes strong, health protective safe level for cancer-causing fumigant 1,3-D (Telone)
Good news alert: In response to a petition filed by CPR, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has established a strongly health protective Prop.65 No Significant Risk Level (NSRL) for the cancer-causing fumigant pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D, or Telone), the third most heavily used pesticide in California. An NSRL is a “safe harbor” level at which an exposure poses no significant risk. Businesses must provide warnings for exposures above an NSRL.

OEHHA's intervention on this hazardous chemical is both timely and welcome. In response to legal action by CPR and allies, a court in 2018 found that DPR had violated the regulatory process for 1,3-D, and ordered DPR to develop a legal rule "in concert with OEHHA." Four years later, after appealing the court decision and losing AGAIN in court, DPR is finally developing a lawful regulation for 1,3-D, with rulemaking expected in November.

In the past, OEHHA has strenuously opposed DPR's lifetime cancer risk level calculation as far too lenient, recommending a more than fourfold decrease in the exposure level adopted by DPR in 2016. OEHHA's NSRL therefore has the potential to influence DPR's rulemaking in a more health-protective direction.

In 2018, the highest level of 1,3-D ever recorded was measured in Shafter (Kern County), a record that was broken later that same year in Parlier (Fresno County). A very high level recorded in Shafter in 2020 was determined to have originated from an application more than 7 miles away, underscoring how far this and other fumigant pesticides are known to drift. No mitigations have been proposed or implemented in response to these extremely high levels.

Meanwhile, millions of pounds of 1,3-D continue to be unleashed on farming communities in California every year. This drift-prone carcinogenic fumigant is banned in 33 countries.