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Photo by MARK WELLER
Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, President of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, speaks about health concerns for teachers and their students from the cancer-causing pesticide, 1,3-D.
Farmworker Communities Protest New Regulation of Cancer-causing Pesticide as Racist
By YANELY MARTINEZ AND MARK WELLER
The Department of Pesticide Regulation allows for 14 times more
1,3-dichloropropene in the air than the official state cancer risk level.
SALINAS — Wednesday afternoon, in excess of fifty concerned Monterey Bay area residents gathered at the Monterey County Government Center in Salinas to protest a new regulation of a cancer-causing pesticide that is the third most used in the region, 1,3-dichloropropene. The speakers at the rally included Yanely Martinez, Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, Melissa Dennis, Beatriz Diaz, Noemi Chico, Ileana Miranda, Juan Moran, and Francisco Rodriguez. All made their feelings clear: this new regulation does not protect farmworker communities and is racist. Video of the event can be seen HERE.
In June 2022, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a lifetime cancer warning level, or “no significant risk level” (NSRL), for the cancer-causing pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene (aka 1,3-D, with a brand name of Telone) of 3.7 micrograms per day.[1]
Breathing air contaminated with 0.04 parts per billion (ppb) of 1,3-D exposes one to 3.7 micrograms per day.[2]
Dow Chemical, the manufacturer of 1,3-D, argued with OEHHA that the NSRL for 1,3-D should be 50 micrograms per day, the equivalent of breathing air concentrated with 0.56 ppb of 1,3-D.[3]
Yesterday, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) sent its new regulation for 1,3-D use that is near neighborhoods and residents to the Office of Administrative Law, setting the target exposure level at 0.56 ppb – allowing for 14 times more 1,3-D in the air than the State’s official lifetime cancer risk warning level, and aligning perfectly with Dow Chemical’s stated desires.[4]
“Rather than creating a 1,3-D regulation that complies with the findings of our state's scientists, DPR has created a weaker, separate and unequal cancer risk standard for the farmworker communities disproportionately exposed to 1,3-D applications. This is environmental racism in the service of Dow’s corporate profits,” said Francisco Rodriguez, Secretary Treasurer of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.
The three pesticide air monitors the state has employed in Monterey County at Ohlone Elementary School (2012-2021), the Salinas airport (2011-2016), and in Chualar (2017-2020) have all registered average air concentrations of 1,3-D above OEHHA’s lifetime cancer risk warning level of 0.04 parts per billion.[5]
“I have had too many students and worked with too many colleagues who have suffered from cancer,” said Melissa Dennis, a third grade teacher at Ohlone Elementary where the student population is more than 95% Latino and Indigenous. “DPR’s cruel message to us at Ohlone (Elementary School) is that we are worth 14 times less to them. So, my students get to breathe 14 times more cancer-causing pesticides than is safe – that’s what DPR thinks of Latino and Indigenous kids.”
The community concerns about the environmental racism of the 1,3-D policy extend throughout both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. 1,3-D is the third most used pesticide in the Monterey Bay region, at more than one million pounds in 2021.[6] More than 88% of all 1,3-D applications by pounds in the two counties, occurred in the 14 Latino-majority zip codes. In those 14 zip codes more than three-quarters (77%) of both counties’ Latinos and two-thirds (66%) of Indigenous people live, but only 18% of the region’s White (“Not Hispanic”) people.[7]
Yanely Martinez, Safe Ag Safe Schools organizer and Greenfield City Councilmember commented: “The impact of DPR’s regulation, to create a separate and 14 times weaker standard of protection for Latino and Indigenous farmworker communities where most 1,3-D is applied, is straight-up racist.”
What is 1,3-dichloropropene? The pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene, or 1,3-D, was first registered in the US in 1954, and in California in 1970, as a soil fumigant used to control nematodes. It has been manufactured by Dow Chemical under the brand Telone II.[8] 1,3-D is a colorless to straw-colored liquid with a sharp, sweet, irritating odor. It is a drift-prone fumigant pesticide used to kill organisms in the soil prior to planting, applied mostly on strawberry and grape fields in the Monterey Bay region.
The fumigant is injected into the ground or applied by drip lines and typically—but not always--covered with tarps. 1,3-D drifts initially from wind and later from volatilization for many miles at health-harming concentrations. The pesticide may also get into our water supply, as did a previous version of Telone discontinued in the late 1980s, which contained the carcinogen 1,2,3-TCP that persists in some California water systems to this day.[9]
What are the health risks associated with 1,3-D? Acute harms include immediate exposure symptoms from high air levels due to drift, irritation of skin and nose, as well as possible slow weight gain in infants. Very high exposure to 1,3-D, such as a spill, can cause nausea, vomiting, headache, damage to liver, intestines, and bladder, and difficulty breathing and depression.[10]
The long-term health threats from chronic exposure to even tiny amounts of 1,3-D over time can cause cancer, damage to the lining of the nose, and may pollute groundwater. 1,3-D is listed as a Prop 65 carcinogen and a Toxic Air Contaminant by the State of California.[11]
1,3-D is banned in 34 countries,[12] but not in the US. The pesticide was prohibited in California between 1990 and 1995 after high air concentration levels were recorded in the Central Valley.[13]
Juan Moran of the United Farm Workers concluded with a quote from Cesar Chavez: “Cesar said about pesticides, ‘The stench of injustice in California should offend every American. Some people, especially those who just don’t care, or don’t understand, like to think that the government can take care of these problems. The government should, but won’t.’ DPR’s regulation of 1,3-D is just another example of the stench of injustice my friend Cesar talked about. He said we need to fight back with ‘people power’, and that is what we are doing today.”
Californians for Pesticide Reform (CPR) is a diverse, statewide coalition of 200+ member groups working to strengthen pesticide policies in California to protect public health and the environment. Member groups include public and children's health advocates, clean air and water groups, health practitioners, environmental justice groups, labor, education, farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates from across the state. Safe Ag Safe Schools (SASS) is the Monterey Bay regional affiliate of Californians for Pesticide Reform with branches in Greenfield, Salinas, and Watsonville, as well as the new regional youth group SASS Future Leaders of Change.
The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council (MBCLC) is the local body of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). It is a membership organization serving as a coalition of the Labor Community in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Over 80 unions are affiliated with the MBCLC, representing more than 37,000 union members and their families. The mission of the MBCLC is to improve the lives of workers, their families, and our community – to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to the nation.
[1] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/proposition-65-no-significant-risk-level-13-dichloropropene-13-d
[2] To convert daily exposures in micrograms to air concentrations in parts per billion, we used the following equation: Air concentration (ppb) = [[daily exposure (micrograms)]/[breathing rate of 19.6 liters per day]]*.216 (conversion factor based on molecular weight). 1,3-D’s molecular weight is 111.
[3] Dow Chemical: “OEHHA should adopt a regulatory default NSRL for 1,3-D of at least 50 micrograms/day.” https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/13-dnsrlsfsorfinalremediated.pdf, p. 12.
[4] The regulation had not been posted on November 7th, but Californians for Pesticide Reform received from DPR a copy that was awaiting approval from the Office of Administrative Law.
[5] Ohlone Elementary: 0.10 ppb annual average, DPR presentation to Pesticide Registration and Evaluation Committee, “2021 1,3-D Ambient Air Monitoring Results,” slide 29. Salinas airport: 0.09 ppb, “Air Monitoring Network Report: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Results (2011 – 2016),” DPR, June 2018, p. 38. Chualar east well: 0.06 ppb, DPR presentation to the Pesticide Registration Evaluation Committee, “2019 1,3 D Ambient Air Monitoring Results,” slide 29. There are no pesticide air monitors in Santa Cruz County.
[6] Monterey County applied 783,508 pounds of 1,3-D; Santa Cruz County, 239,251, for a total of 1,022,759. https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pur/pur21rep/top5lists/top_5_chemical_subtotals_by_pounds_applied.pdf
[7] “Table 3c: Race (Hispanic Exclusive) and Hispanic Origin” for demographic Zip Code Tabulation Areas at the US Census Bureau (https://dof.ca.gov/reports/demographic-reports/census-2010/) for total population, “White alone, Not Hispanic,” “Hispanic or Latino,” and “American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Not Hispanic” populations; https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org for square mile data; https://calpip.cdpr.ca.gov/main.cfm for 1,3-D use by pounds by zip code, yielding 908,750 pounds within the following majority Latino zip codes: 93450, 93901, 93905, 93906, 93925, 93926, 93927, 93930, 93954, 93960, 95012, 95019, 95039, 95076.
[8] Salt Lake Holding LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical. https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/095290-00001-20221202.pdf
[9] https://cleanwater.org/tcp-californias-drinking-water
[10] https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1_3-Dichloropropene
[11] https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/13-dichloropropene
[12] https://pan-international.org/pan-international-consolidated-list-of-banned-pesticides/
[13] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-16-mn-20641-story.html
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Photo by MARK WELLER
Third grade teacher at Ohlone Elementary School, Melissa Dennis, expresses concerns about her students' exposure to 1,3-D. The school is next to agricultural fields west of the town of Pajaro.
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Synagogue
By LARRY BENSKY
My first visit as a would be worshipper to a synagogue in about 75 years took place last Saturday.
The visit was inspired by a pervasive feeling that I wanted to pray. But I cannot remember ever wanting to pray, having been an atheist since, as a teenager, I decided that participation in group worship in a language which I could barely read or speak was a waste of time. Time that I could spend reading in my room. Or playing basketball in my nearby schoolyard. Or conducting primitive chemistry experiments in the tiny attic of my small Brooklyn house.
“Have you ever wanted to go to a synagogue or any other religious place all this time since then?” my psychologist asked me a few days later. (I’m now seeing a shrink for the first time in my 86 years.)
Of course I have, I told her. I’ve been inside hundreds. But it was not to pray to some “Nobodaddy” (William Blake). I went to countless churches, large and small, and the few surviving synagogues (and mosques) converted to churches throughout France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, England, Belgium, Holland and my native New York City.
I went to experience the awesome interior and exterior architecture. I went for the awesome music. I went to feel the collective solidarity of the congregations everywhere, including, for the past half century, SF, Berkeley and Northern California.
This time I went because day after day I am trying not to die. As I try I see and hear all around me trees and flowers and butterflies and dogs and cats in various stages of their life communicating and working and only attacking for survival and only defending for same. I chose a synagogue out of vestigial loyalty
So why didn’t it work for you last Saturday, my psychologist wondered?
Probably I’m too frustrated by the severe physical accidents/incidents of the past ten years which make it achingly hard to get into and out of a car even for a ten minute trip. Probably the uncomfortable wooden chairs. Probably the unheated room. Certainly because the first words encountered in the thousands of pages in the huge books loaned to the eight people In the room were to be said by men.”Thank God, for not having made me a woman.”
But, without women, beginning with my mother 86 years ago, down to my wife and 24/7 caregiver today, I wouldn’t last a day.
Women have given me the unparalleled experience of sexual ecstasy. Women worked with me. Did medical and legal jobs which saved my life. Biked with me hiked with me laughed with me wrote to and about me made me a proud father and grandfather.
Today our small mancave in the small Berkeley storefront to which I will not be returning had a separate section for women behind a wall, where men and women could not see each other. Until it was time to go home. For me, just a half hour after we got there.
I told my wife and caregiver about that prayer book passage. They were not surprised.
(Larry Bensky welcomes correspondence: L.Bensky@igc.org)
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By SEAN DOUGHERTY
I am running for U.S. Congress on a platform of peace, justice, and climate action. Our campaign is calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, return of all prisoners, and full human and political rights for all Palestinians. My opponent, Jimmy Panetta, has voted to support Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza. He has also received significant campaign donations from the very defense contractors and banks that are making profits from the violence in Ukraine and the Middle East.
To challenge Panetta, we need your help. We are hoping to raise $26,000 by the end of 2023. This will cover the costs of getting on the ballot, putting a statement in the voter guide, and printing yard signs and mailers. You can see a detailed breakdown here. The more money we raise, the more voters we can reach.
Unlike Panetta, we are not taking corporate money or taking any donations from individuals over $500. This means we are relying on many individuals giving what they can.
Please DONATE today. And if you can’t give money, please donate your time and sign up to volunteer HERE. Together, let’s wage peace!
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Community Thanksgiving Dinner Needs Volunteers and Donations
By SARAH RINGLER
Santa Cruz's free Community Thanksgiving Dinner, Nov. 23, from 11am-3pm needs the community's help with donations and volunteering. The event features live entertainment and a traditional meal of turkey, cranberry sauce,
sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, vegetarian options and pie. It goes from 11am-3pm at the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz.
Volunteer are needed before, during and after the event. Assistance with food preparation is needed days before. On the day of the event help is needed decorating, setting up, greeting, serving, entertaining and more. Finally, cleaning up and breaking down needs to be done. To sign up, contact vetshalldinner@gmail.com
You can always donate HERE. Or send checks made out to Veterans For Peace, P.O. Box 865, Santa Cruz, CA 95061. For information, call: 831- 466-6078
A note from the sponsors of this event, Veterans for Peace, Veterans Memorial Building Board of Trustees, and Friends of Thanksgiving:
"The holidays are a joyous time for our community, but as we celebrate the fellowship and good cheer of the season, we must not forget those who face the challenges of homelessness or reduced economic circumstances throughout the year. For more than 30 years, the Veterans in Santa Cruz have provided a hot, delicious Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings to hundreds of our friends and neighbors in need. This year, Veterans For Peace, the Veterans Memorial Building Board of Trustees and Friends of Thanksgiving are hosting the Veterans Community Thanksgiving Dinner, prepared by local chefs, with decorations by the Girl Scouts and live entertainment by local musicians. We are asking our community to help make this a special event by donating some time or money to support the meal. Your generous donations will help turn a time of want and need into a celebration of joy and generosity."
Happy Holidays and Thank You from the Vets and the Friends of Thanksgiving!
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Audrey
By WOODY REHANEK
*Lyrical cool jazz alto saxophonist
Paul Desmond was famous for his
playing on "Take Five," the Dave
Brubeck Quartet's 1959 hit in 5/4 time.
With his horn-rimmed glasses
& 3-pack-a-day smoking habit,
Desmond's charisma ran against
type. Ladies simply adored him.
*He had a secret crush on Hepburn,
who was doing live theater across
Times Square from the club where
the Quartet was playing. Paul insisted
that they take a break at exactly
the time when Ms. Hepburn
would be exiting the theater.
*Too shy to actually talk to her,
he ran to the theater & smoked
cigarettes. He wrote the instrumental
"Audrey" for her but never told her.
*Desmond passed away without
knowing if she ever heard it. Truth
to tell, it was Audrey's favorite song.
She listened to it every night
until the day she died.
******************
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
An oak tree spreads out at Alum Rock Park, which is nestled in the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County.
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Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report
By SARAH RINGLER
The California Department of Public Health reports on Covid-19 for the Santa Cruz County Health Department. They regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county. Since cases are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.
At-home Covid-19 test kits that were sent free from the government earlier are now expiring. The program that started in Jan. 2022 has distributed 600 million test kits. If you still have those tests, before using, check the date on your box or go HERE to get more information. Over a month ago, the Biden administration announced that it will provide four free tests per household that will be delivered by the US Postal Service. Go HERE to order.
The state's website reports that the current total of confirmed Covid deaths in Santa Cruz County is at 338, the same as last week.
The three graphs below give a picture of what is happening as of Nov. 8. The first graph below shows the Rt Number. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing.
The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county. This graph shows wastewater level to be below Center for Disease Control's moderate risk threshold.
The third graph below shows hospitalizations. Click to see more information on hospitalizations HERE.
The vaccination data for the county has stayed fairly constant increasing very little over time. Go HERE for new information on vaccination records, treatments, vaccines, tests, safety in the workplace and more.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - A street vendor works off a homemade cart designed after a VW bus as he serves customers in Pajaro.
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Labor History Calendar - Nov. 10-16, 2023
a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget
Nov. 10, 1816: “Scab” meaning strikebreaker, used in print for the first time.
Nov. 10, 1933: Sit-down strike begins at Austin, Minn., Hormel plant.
Nov. 10, 1992: General strike against anti-union laws in Australia.
Nov. 11, 1887: Haymarket martyrs executed.
Nov. 11, 1919: IWW organizer Wesley Everest lynched after Centralia, Washington – IWW hall attacked.
Nov. 12, 1815: Early feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton born.
Nov. 13, 1945: GM strike closes 96 plants.
Nov. 13, 1974: Unionist Karen Silkwood killed traveling to give reporter documents on nuclear power safety violations.
Nov. 14, 1799: Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power, ending French Revolution.
Nov. 14, 1903: Striking Chinese furniture makers battle scabs. 1,100 strikers and locked-out workers pledged to “do nothing, and do it well,” in Melbourne, Australia.
Nov. 15, 1911: IWW general strike in Tampico, Mexico, demands release of organizers –crushed by army.
Nov. 15, 1922: Soldiers fire on protest demanding release of imprisoned unionists in Ecuador – 300 killed.
Nov. 15, 1923: German mark collapses after long slide. Takes 4.2 trillion marks to buy a single American dollar.
Nov. 16, 1849: Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death for socialist activities; later commuted to four years hard labor in Siberia.
Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Mediterranean Food
By SARAH RINGLER
I read once that there are olive trees in Greece that were alive in Plato’s time (400 BC) that are still producing olives today — and olive oil. That raises a few questions about the bonsai olive tree a kind woman in Watsonville once gave me that I killed in about six weeks. It was in a nice pot though, which I still use.
Olive oil is a tremendous food. It goes with so many things. It also makes for a soothing skin moisturizer — granted in small amounts.
If you’re shopping around for olive oil, a locally made olive oil, Belle Farms on Peckham Road in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, produces — what we think — is a high quality olive oil. Belle Farms was stared in 1997, when owners Steve and Marguerite Remde tested their skills with growing olive trees in the local Mediterranean climate of the Pajaro Valley.
You can find their product around town. Freedom Meat Lockers, at 160 Hi Grade Lane off Green Valley Road in Watsonville, carries it. If you want to experience a real meat market and maybe put in a order for your Thanksgiving turkey, I can easily recommend this place.
The following dish is pure Mediterranean with the olive oil, capers, oregano and, of course, the Parmigiano Reggiano. If you have never cooked with leeks before, I have provided, I hope, good directions on preparing them. They have a very delicate taste even though they are in the onion family. This dish is also low calorie for those who care about those things – 410 calories a serving.
Leek and Lemon Fettucine
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 teaspoons dried
3 large leeks
l lemon – finely grated rind
1 tablespoons drained capers
¾ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 cup flat leafed parsley, roughly chopped
1 teaspoons coarse salt
Ground black pepper
9 ounces fresh or dried fettucine
Prepare the leeks. Fill a large bowl with fresh cold water. Cut off about ½ inch at the bottom where the roots are. Then, cut off the tops where the color of the stalk begins to go a darker green – mostly use the white part. Cut each stalk into two lengths. Thinly slice into half rounds and put into the bowl of fresh water. After all the leeks are in the water, swish them around. Drain, wash and rinse again until there is no dirt at the bottom of the bowl.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Chop the garlic and the fresh oregano together.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large fry pan. Add the leeks, garlic and oregano. Sauté until the leeks are soft, transparent and the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper to taste.
By now the pasta water should be boiling. Add the pasta and cook until it is done. Drain the pasta into a warm pan reserving a ¼ cup of the water in case you need it later.
Add the leek mixture, lemon rind, cheese and parsley to the past. Mix well. Add a little of the reserved pasta water in case the mixture is too dry.
Serve immediately with more grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Serves 4.
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Thanks, Sarah Ringler
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Welcome to Serf City Times Our county has problems and many people feel left out. Housing affordability, racism and low wages are the most obvious factors. However, many groups and individuals in Santa Cruz County work tirelessly to make our county a better place for everyone. These people work on the environment, housing, economic justice, health, criminal justice, disability rights, immigrant rights, racial justice, transportation, workers’ rights, education reform, gender issues, equity issues, electoral politics and more. Often, one group doesn’t know what another is doing. The Serf City Times is dedicated to serving as a clearinghouse for those issues by letting you know what is going on, what actions you can take and how you can support these groups.This is a self-funded enterprise and all work is volunteer.
Copyright © 2023 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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