| Pesticide Action Network

Celebrating Dolores

At age 87, political activist Dolores Huerta is getting some long-overdue recognition for the central role she's played for years in the farmworker movement. It's a role well worth celebrating.

The documentary film Dolores, produced by director Peter Bratt, is now in theaters. The film puts Huerta's decades of organizing front and center where it should be, rather than portraying her as a "sidekick" of Cesar Chavez, as too many narratives have.

Sep 20, 2017

Pesticide Actio...

Science for Solutions: Save the brains

With pesticide drift sweeping across the South and Midwest this summer, and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s recent decision to keep the brain-harming pesticide chlorpyrifos on the market, children’s and community health is at the front of our minds here at PAN.

Sep 7, 2017

Emily Marquez

Dicamba drift? This is on you, Monsanto.

Like a wildfire burning out of control, the epidemic of dicamba drift blowing across 20 states this summer has already damaged over three million acres of soybean cropland. Adding to the list of some 2,200 reported herbicide injuries are likely many more damaged acres of fruit and vegetable farms, vineyards, trees, home gardens, hedgerows and plant habitats critical to pollinators and other wildlife.

Sep 7, 2017

Marcia Ishii

California, schoolkids deserve better

Ah, back to school. It's a transitional time for parents and kids alike. But for those living in California's agricultural communities, this season also brings renewed worry and frustration that the state still hasn't taken steps to curtail use of brain-harming and cancer-causing pesticides near schools.

Aug 23, 2017

Medha Chandra

The clear case against Clovis

Sam Clovis is not a scientist. Trump's absurd nomination for the top scientist post at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a former radio talk show host with a history of racist and homophobic commentary — and zero scientific or agricultural background or credentials. Zero.

Aug 23, 2017

Kristin Schafer

In case of (dicamba) drift

Pesticide drift is a severely underreported problem in rural, agricultural communities. And now we're in the middle of an epic summer of drift thanks to Monsanto’s new dicamba-resistant seed line, Xtend. Expanded planting of Xtend soy and cotton is leading to more spraying of the herbicide. As a result, farmers in Southern and Midwestern states are reporting extensive and debilitating crop damage from dicamba traveling from where it's applied to nearby fields.

Aug 17, 2017

Linda Wells

California, stop the drift

Pesticide drift regularly occurs in California agricultural communities, and too often it flies under the radar. But in the past several months there have been four major drift incidents that bring the problem into sharper focus.

Aug 10, 2017

Paul Towers

Getting this carcinogen out of California water

In late July, the California State Water Resources Control Board approved a stringent "maximum contamination level" (MCL) for a cancer-causing chemical in drinking water. This was a hard-fought and important victory for public health.

For 25 years, 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) has been designated as a carcinogen in the state, and the new mandate to keep it out of drinking water — or at least below detectable amounts — is an important step forward.

Aug 10, 2017

Pesticide Actio...

Indigenous solidarity, today & every day

August 9 is the U.N. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Today, PAN stands with the estimated 370 million Indigenous peoples around the world in their struggles to gain justice and obtain full cultural, economic, social and political rights.

Aug 9, 2017

Medha Chandra

Congress steps up where EPA failed

Earlier this week I had a chance to be on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC when legislation was introduced to ban chlorpyrifos. If these bills become law, millions of children and workers in the U.S. and around the world will no longer be exposed to this brain-harming pesticide.

Jul 27, 2017

Kristin Schafer