Environmental group raps state pesticide regulators; But agency says risk report is junk science and only looks at one program instead of all the monitoring

By Diana Walsh Copyright 1998 The San Francisco Examiner August 19, 1998

Nearly 4 million Californians live within a half-mile of places where large volumes of potentially toxic pesticides have been used, according to a new study.

In a report titled "Poisoning the Air," the California Public Interest Research Group also says 1 million of the state's residents live next to areas where cancer-causing pesticides are used.

"People often think about pesticides on their food or maybe in their water, but this report shows that a good portion of our population may be breathing airborne poisons and this problem must be addressed now," said Zev Ross, a CalPIRG toxic policy advocate and author of the report.

Pesticides used in one area are often found to have migrated several hundred feet and sometimes hundreds of miles away, according to CalPIRG. California accounts for approximately 25 percent of all pesticides used in the country.

CalPIRG used the report to blast California's Department of Pesticide Regulation, the state agency that regulates the use of dangerous pesticides. The group claims the agency has done little to implement a 15 -year-old law designed to regulate pesticides in the air.

"Despite the potential increased risk of both short-term and long -term illness posed by airborne pesticides, the state agency charged with regulating these chemicals . . . has virtually ignored legislation to protect Californians from pesticides in the air," the report said.

Veda Federighi, a spokeswoman for the agency, denounced the report's conclusions.

"Because there is a presence of something doesn't mean you are at risk from it . . . I'm sure there are 4 million Californians who live within a half-mile from a freeway. Does that mean they are at risk from auto exhaust?" asked Federighi. "They are making a lot of unsupportable conclusions. It's certainly not science."

By focusing strictly on how the agency implemented the Toxic Air Contaminants Program, which was enacted in 1983-84, the report completely ignored all of the agency's other monitoring programs, most of which bring about quicker crackdowns on potentially dangerous and carcinogenic pesticides, Federighi said.

"They are taking a very narrow look at things and are ignoring everything else we do," she said, rattling off a list of several pesticides that have undergone testing and then were subjected to restrictions. "They're saying we didn't do it the way they wanted us to do it so it's wrong, and we're saying we did the best and fastest assessment," she said.

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