12/12/06 Reaction to "Poisons on the Wind"

Washington Ag December 12, 2006 Last week the Farm Worker Pesticide Project and the Pesticide Action Network North America released a report titled "Poisons on the Wind" in which the groups claimed spray drift from Lorsban in fruit orchards is exposing farm worker children to unacceptable levels of the pesticide's active ingredient and may be causing health effects. The claim is based on data from an air monitoring system the groups set up in two locations in the Yakima Valley. Heather Hansen of Washington Friends of Farms and Forests says they have no idea how the data was collected. Hansen: "What we do know is in California where the California Department of Pesticide Regulation is actually doing studies with air monitoring in farm worker communities, they are coming up very clean. The few detections they are getting are at very, very, very low levels, far below any cause for concern. So, I am going to trust that data because I know it was put together following proper research protocols." Hansen says spray drift is already illegal in Washington and there hasn't been an increase in complaints or reports of illnesses. Among the things the Farm Worker Pesticide Project would like to see is government establish an air monitoring system for spray drift. I'm Bob Hoff.