Caroline Fazio
8th grade

RIO MESA HIGH SCHOOL: HOW STRAWBERRIES MAY BE BAD FOR OUR HEALTH

INTRODUCTION

• Farmers were banned from using a certain pesticide, but they found a loophole and are now using 1,3-Dichloropropene
• Growers in the fields in front of the school are using about 770,000 pounds of one the riskiest pesticides around in over the past 10 years
• Investigators are pretty certain that 1,3-D is causing one cancer case per 100,000 residents
• It’s nearly impossible to find out who will get cancer because of it, making the victims unknown
• If someone does get cancer from it, they won’t know if it is from the pesticide or natural causes

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INFORMATION

• Around 2,100 students and teachers spend their school day surrounded by fields treated with huge amounts of some of the most dangerous pesticides
• The loophole created by the state’s pesticide regulator, put people at a greater cancer risk
• The farmers are wearing masks when spraying 1,3-D
• They also spray DURING school hours

INFORMATION

• There are strawberry fields with the pesticide that line The high school on all four sides
• The students and faculty are inhaling the pesticide
• In the short future the department will be setting rules for telling residents when fumigations are going on

WAYS TO HELP

• They could spray on the weekends or early in the morning or late at night
• Stop using the pesticide

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QUESTIONS

• If the farmers wear masks while spraying then don't they know how dangerous 1,3-D is?
• Is there an other pesticide less dangerous that farmers can use?

CITES

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,3-Dichloropropene
• http://www.vcstar.com/news/public-health/supervisors-to-hear-rio-mesa-high-...
• http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-adv-pesticides-schools-20150614-story....