Op-ed: California needs to quit ignoring the public health and climate cost of pesticides

Op-ed: California needs to quit ignoring the public health and climate cost of pesticides

For too long the state has allowed undue regulatory influence by pesticide companies.

It's a pesticide called 1,3-Dichloropropene that's commonly sold under the brand name Telone.


And although it's largely unknown outside agricultural circles, 1,3-D has an outsized footprint. In 1990, state regulators banned use of the carcinogenic pesticide after unsafe levels were found in the air.

Yet in 2018, the most recent year for which we have records, California used more than 12.5 million pounds of 1,3-D and detected it at levels more than three times higher than those that triggered the 1990 ban.

How is this possible? Because California's Department of Pesticide Regulation backtracked on commitments to ban and limit 1,3-D's use, and in 1995 began to reinstate its use under a plan in coordination with the manufacturer Dow. That's why a state court of appeals this month agreed with farmworkers and pesticide reform advocates that state regulators can't rely on underground rulemaking, improperly influenced by industry, to regulate 1,3-D's use.

Related: The reckless embrace of banned pesticides in the US

The pesticide's heavy use is made even more troubling because of its tendency – like many fumigants – to "off-gas" into the air after application. Yet California has chosen to completely ignore the escalating climate and health costs of those pesticides.

Even as state regulators lay out California's 2022 vision for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, they have refused, so far, to account for the growing global warming contribution of pesticides.

That must change. The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released its sixth report confirming that we're already in a climate crisis and must do more to fight climate change.

Soil health 

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 50% to 100% of applied pesticides end up in the soil. And soils are the largest terrestrial store of carbon on the planet, playing an essential role in drawing carbon down from the atmosphere into the Earth where it can't act as a greenhouse gas.

The process of storing carbon in the soil is carried out by millions of subterranean species in the soil, from microscopic organisms to earthworms. When soil life is damaged it harms the ability of the soil to suck up carbon.

The largest-ever analysis of pesticides' impacts on soil found significant harm to beneficial, soil-dwelling invertebrates, including earthworms, ants, beetles, and ground nesting bees in 71% of cases reviewed in nearly 400 studies.

But although millions of acres of land in California are treated with nearly 200 million pounds of pesticides each year, the impact of pesticides on soil health is almost completely overlooked.

Impacts to farmworkers 

Fumigants, like 1-3,D not only pose dangerous threats to soils, they threaten the health of farmworkers and nearby communities. Soil fumigants are particularly dangerous because after killing soil organisms they often move to the air at levels that can trigger almost immediate adverse health effects in people.

And these fumigants can travel far. Just last year state regulators found 1,3-D in the air at high levels that significantly increase cancer risk up to seven and a half miles away from the closest known application sites.

Most of our Central Valley counties fail air pollution standards for ozone and particulate matter, which aggravate asthma and result in premature deaths. Yet pesticides like 1,3-D that can produce ozone and particulate matter are still used widely in those same counties.

Researchers at the California Environmental Protection Agency found that pesticides were the pollutants with the greatest racial and income disparities in exposure in the state.

Greenhouse gas emissions 

Beyond their immediate harms, many commonly-used fumigants result in increased emissions of nitrous oxide, an often-overlooked greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Taken together, certain pesticides used to fumigate soils can result in a seven-to-eight-fold increase in nitrous oxide greenhouse gas pollution.

And Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in pesticides – tens of millions of pounds of which are used each year in California – react with sunlight and nitrogen oxides to create tropospheric ozone, the third most significant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane.

For too long the state has allowed undue regulatory influence by pesticide companies.

Our state leaders must firmly reverse course and aggressively address the climate and health threats posed by our ever-expanding pesticide uses.

Nathan Donley, Ph.D., who co-authored the recent soils study, is the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health science director.

Sarah Aird is Co-Director of the statewide coalition Californians for Pesticide Reform.

Banner photo: Strawberry harvest in California. (Credit: Tim Mossholder/Unsplash/Unsplash)

environmental justice

LISTEN: Robbie Parks on why hurricanes are getting deadlier

"In places where there are high minority populations they bear, by far, the most burden of deaths from tropical cyclones."

Dr. Robbie Parks joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast for a bonus episode to discuss how hurricanes have become deadlier in recent years and how we can better protect vulnerable communities.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

U.S. housing crisis thwarts recruitment for nature-based infrastructure projects

Even when the funding is lined up for green restoration efforts in northern Wisconsin, a lack of affordable housing makes it hard to attract workers and get started.

EPA approves permit for controversial fracking disposal well in Pennsylvania

The well, in Plum Borough near Pittsburgh, is a repurposed conventional well, which locals fear is at higher risk for leaks and material failures that could contaminate local drinking water.

Complexity around fracking featured in touring play coming to Pittsburgh

“Ezell: Ballad of a Land Man” is described as an outdoor, eco-cultural theater, music and meal experience that explores fracking, land and belonging.
Biden’s American Climate Corps
VSPYCC/Flickr

Pa groups thrilled by Biden’s American Climate Corps, but wish it were bigger

American Climate Corps will train 20,000 young people in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience across the country.
portuguese children lawsuit climate
Photo by João Alves on Unsplash

Six young activists devote years to climate fight with 32 governments. Now comes their day in court

Six Portuguese children and young adults are set to take 32 European governments to court Wednesday for what they say is a failure to adequately address human-caused climate change in a violation of their human rights.
arrows climate impacts

Ancient arrow is among artifacts to emerge from Norway’s melting ice

As the earth warms, glacial archaeologists are in a race against time to preserve objects before they are destroyed by the elements. Recent field work yielded a surprisingly intact 3,000-year-old arrow.
From our Newsroom
children nature

Opinion: When kids feel the magic of nature, they will want to protect it

Improving our quality of life starts with the simple of act of getting kids outdoors.

birds climate change

In the Gulf of Maine, scientists race to save seabirds threatened by climate change

“I could see that, if successful, the methods developed could likely help these species."

fracking economics

Appalachia’s fracking counties are shedding jobs and residents: Study

The 22 counties that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas lost a combined 10,339 jobs between 2008 and 2021.

Marathon Petroleum y una ciudad de Texas muestran una  potencial crisis de comunicaciones sobre sustancias químicas

Marathon Petroleum y una ciudad de Texas muestran una potencial crisis de comunicaciones sobre sustancias químicas

En los últimos tres años, Marathon ha violado repetidamente la ley de Aire Limpio y tuvo tres emergencias en el semestre de febrero a julio de 2023.

WATCH: How Marathon Petroleum and one Texas city show the potential for a chemical communication crisis

WATCH: How Marathon Petroleum and one Texas city show the potential for a chemical communication crisis

Marathon in Texas City has repeatedly violated the Clean Air Act and had three emergencies in the span of a six month period.

air pollution heart attack

ER visits for heart problems plummeted after Pittsburgh coal processor shut down

Levels of one highly-toxic pollutant fell by 90% and ER visits for heart problems decreased by 42% immediately after the shutdown.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.