Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Farm Workers Talk about Pesticides

Farm workers are kind of the low guys on the totem pole of North Carolina agriculture.

They are easily exploited by an industrial-scale agricultural system that’s in the sad position of having to exploit people to make any money. (Farming’s seldom easy for anyone, but smaller-scale sustainable and organic farms don’t tend to rely so much on exploitative practices, and they don’t rely on chemical pesticides. So of course, we’d encourage supporting them….but that’s a whole different blog post.)

Toxic Free NC is concerned about all the pesticides that farm workers and their families come into contact with, and the health ramifications not only for them (birth defects, cancer, infertility, poisoning, etc), but for all of us. Pesticides overused on farms where they work wind up on our food (or tobacco or what have you), and running off the farms and right into our waterways. Drinking water supplies are treated to kill bacteria, but chemicals aren’t removed, so we’re drinking them.

Farm workers are in a bad position when it comes to pesticides, but Toxic Free NC is working to make sure their opinions on the issue get out there and in front of people who can do something about it. This means you! Please pass this video around, and if you’ve got a moment to do a legislator look-up, consider sending the video link to your representatives at the state and/or federal levels. Farm worker advocates tried (and failed) to get some reforms through the NC General Assembly this year to make it easier for NC farm workers to file complaints about pesticide misuse. Help us get representatives better educated on this issue so next time, we’ll win big.

Thank you for your help!

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