Abandoned bodies and spaces of sacrifice: Pesticide drift activism and the contestation of neoliberal environmental politics in California

Recent research suggests that many key strands of California’s agrofood activism appear to accommodate, rather than confront, the neoliberalization of environmental governance, and that such accommodations might problematically constrain the transformative potential of activists’ work. In this paper, I examine the case of pesticide drift activism in California, which, as an exception to this trend, provides a provocative and useful case study for interrogating the influence of neoliberalization on social/environmental activism. I argue that California’s pesticide drift activism can be understood as a reaction to the spaces of sacrifice created and exacerbated by the failure of unionization-based pesticide reform efforts, a promising but compromised regulatory apparatus, longstanding farmworker powerlessness, neoliberal regulatory rollback, and neoliberalized pesticide politics – a mosaic of factors that have worked together to produce a regulatory structure that has always been better at registering pesticides than at reducing pollution. I show that pesticide drift activists’ reliance on confrontational practice, collective action, and strategic alliances have been crucial to the movement’s success with bringing visibility to this issue and with gaining traction in the political arena. Thus, at the same time that neoliberalization can exacerbate physical spaces of sacrifice, this case study illustrates that it can also, unexpectedly perhaps, generate new, non-neoliberal political spaces for social change.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR MANAGING PESTICIDE LOSSES IN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS

1 INTRODUCTION Agricultural use of pesticides has been recognized as one of the important non-point pollution sources in the world, and the pesticide application to agricultural lands has led to large amounts of residues discharged into surface water through runoff (Leonard, 1990). There have been growing concerns about the fate and transport of pesticides in agricultural lands, due to the associated adverse impacts on water environment and human health (Agassi et al., 1995; Ng and Clegg…     

Conservation tillage and input use

 There continues to be a question as to the overall effectiveness of conservation tillage practices in reducing the impact of agricultural production on the environment. While it is generally recognized that water runoff and soil erosion will decline further, as tillage and mulch tillage systems are not used more extensively on cropland, what will happen to pesticide and fertilizer use remains uncertain. To gain some insight into this, the conservation tillage adoption decision is modelled. On the assumption that the decision to adopt conservation tillage is a two-step procedure, the first decision is whether or not to adopt a conservation tillage production system and the second concerns the extent to which conservation tillage should be used – appropriate models of the Cragg and Heckman (dominance) type are estimated. Based on farm-level data on corn production in the United States for 1987, the profile of a farm on which conservation tillage was adopted is that the cropland had above-average slope and experienced above-average rainfall, the farm was a cash grain enterprise, and it had an above-average expenditure on pesticides and a below-average expenditure on fuel and custom pesticide applications. Additionally, for a farm adopting a no-tillage production practice, an above-average expenditure was made on fertilizer. Received: 18 September 1995 · Accepted: 6 December 1995     

Distribution and migration of pesticide residues in mosquito control impoundments St. Lucie County, Florida, USA

This project was designed to: (1) document the distribution and migration of organochlorine pesticide residues within marsh substrates of 18 St. Lucie County mosquito control impoundments located along the Indian River Lagoon estuary, and (2) evaluate the impact of water management techniques on residue mobility. Our results indicate that detectible concentrations of organochlorine compounds, applied between the late 1940s and early 1950s, are present in 16 of the 18 St. Lucie County mosquito control impoundments. These compounds are primarily restricted to the surficial, organic-rich wetland sediment, which, based upon geotechnical analysis, was exposed to the atmosphere at a time when the impoundments were subjected to pesticide treatment. Contaminated sediments are present below the surficial, organic-rich layer, suggesting that some vertical migration of pesticides has occurred. It is unlikely that leaching associated with the downward percolation of impounded water was responsible for this migration as pesticide residues were never detected within thein situ pore waters. An alternative explanation is that biological processes (e.g., rooting, burrowing) facilitated the downward flux of organochlorine compounds into sediment horizons not subjected to direct treatment. Eighty-eight surface water samples obtained from two impoundments subjected to contrasting water management techniques were analyzed for pesticide content. None of the surficial water samples collected in association with these impoundments contained detectible concentrations of organochlorine compounds. These samples were unfiltered and contained as much as 25 mg/1 of particulate organic matter. This suggests that the currently preferred management technique (RIM), which is designed to maintain water quality, limit mosquito production, and provide for ecological continuity, does not hydraulically mobilize pesticide residues into the Indian River Lagoon estuary.     

桑沟湾农药残留及贝毒对海洋环境质量影响和主要食用贝类健康风险评估

根据2009-04—2010-02隔月6个航次桑沟湾9个调查站位贝类养殖区有机氯(OCPs)、有机磷(OPPs)农药残留和麻痹性贝毒(PSP)的调查资料,分析了它们在该海域海水中、表层沉积物中和主要贝类(栉孔扇贝、太平洋牡蛎和菲律滨蛤仔)体内的含量水平,就农药残留及贝毒污染对海洋环境质量的影响进行综合评价和类别划分,并对主要食用贝类中农药残留和贝毒的暴露水平进行健康风险评估。结果表明,桑沟湾贝类养殖区海水质量、沉积物质量和养殖贝类质量水平范围为1~2级,平均分别为2级、1级和1级,养殖生态环境综合质量水平为2级;总体上,该海域海洋环境综合质量处于良好水平,贝类产区生态环境质量为1类区(清洁区)。即该海域农药残留及贝毒污染对海洋环境质量影响较小或无明显影响。另外,针对食用桑沟湾贝类水产品的消费人群进行了农药残留及贝毒污染的健康风险评估,结果表明调查人群食用贝类中OCPs中的HCHs和DDTs、OPPs中的马拉硫磷和甲基对硫磷、PSP的日摄入量分别为0.75,2.11,0.19,0.09和1.22μg/(人·d),其摄入量低于ADI的推荐限值,因此桑沟湾主要食用贝类中农药残留及贝毒污染的健康风险处于安全范围。     

Linking pesticides and human health: A geographic information system (GIS) and Landsat remote sensing method to estimate agricultural pesticide exposure

Accurate pesticide exposure estimation is integral to epidemiologic studies elucidating the role of pesticides in human health. Humans can be exposed to pesticides via residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications (drift). We present an improved geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing method, the Landsat method, to estimate agricultural pesticide exposure through matching pesticide applications to crops classified from temporally concurrent Landsat satellite remote sensing images in California. The image classification method utilizes Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values in a combined maximum likelihood classification and per-field (using segments) approach. Pesticide exposure is estimated according to pesticide-treated crop fields intersecting 500 m buffers around geocoded locations (e.g., residences) in a GIS. Study results demonstrate that the Landsat method can improve GIS-based pesticide exposure estimation by matching more pesticide applications to crops (especially temporary crops) classified using temporally concurrent Landsat images compared to the standard method that relies on infrequently updated land use survey (LUS) crop data. The Landsat method can be used in epidemiologic studies to reconstruct past individual-level exposure to specific pesticides according to where individuals are located.     

Pesticides Removal Using Conventional and Low‐Cost Adsorbents: A Review

Worldwide pesticide usage has increased dramatically during the last three decades, coinciding with changing practices and increasing by intensive agriculture. This widespread use of pesticides for agricultural and non‐agricultural purposes has resulted in the presence of their residues in various environmental matrices. The occurrence of pesticides and their metabolite transported in rivers, channels, lakes, sea, air, soils, groundwater, and even drinking water, proves the high risk of these chemicals to human health and the environment. Therefore, pesticide removal is of an increasing concern. In this study, a review of the published literature dealing with pesticides removal process is presented. Firstly, pesticide removal by conventional means is briefly considered. Secondly, the use of the low‐cost sorbent through biosorption process is discussed comprehensively. The effect of factors such as pH, contact time, sorbent dosage, initial pesticide concentration, and optimization of biosorption conditions is also discussed. Kinetic, thermodynamic, and mechanism studies are also given. This study shows that both microorganisms and other materials with biological origin like agricultural by‐products may be used to this end. There is a significant potential for pesticide uptake by the use of various pristine and especially modified biosorbents. In the case of living organisms used as removal agents, degradation may also play a role in the total removal observed.     

Global pesticide use and trade database (GloPUT): New estimates show pesticide use trends in low-income countries substantially underestimated

Assessments of pesticide impacts globally and holistic policies to address them require accurate pesticide use data, but good use data are difficult to find. For comparable estimates across countries, researchers and policymakers depend upon pesticide use data collected by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We analyze the FAO database and find declines in data reporting and data quality since 2007. We present a novel method that uses bilateral paired mirror trade statistics and an index of reporter reliability to add, update and/or replace data for 137 countries. The resulting Global Pesticide Use and Trade (GloPUT) database shows pesticide use in low and lower-middle income countries has been substantially underestimated. Over the last decade, global pesticide use grew 20% by volume; use in low-income countries grew by 153% over the same period. GloPUT estimates more accurately reflect social science findings on recent agrichemical supply chain restructuring and agrarian development, which indicate substantial increases in pesticide use. Significant issues with data reporting and quality mean that the impacts of recent changes in pesticide production, availability and adoption were not reflected in the FAO database, and, as a result, neither are they reflected in high profile environmental assessments.     

Sublethal impact of short term exposure to the organophosphate pesticide azamethiphos in the marine mollusc Mytilus edulis

Concern has been raised that the increased use of pesticides in intensive aquaculture practices may cause adverse sublethal effects to non-target aquatic species. Azamethiphos is an organophosphate (OP) pesticide used to combat sea lice infestations in farmed salmonids. Here, the sublethal impact on the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, of short term exposure to azamethiphos was determined. The testing regime included biomarkers of exposure (acetylcholinesterase activity), cytotoxicity (neutral red retention), immune function (phagocytic index) and physiological condition (feeding rate). The distribution and sensitivity of M. edulis acetylcholinesterase to inhibition by azamethiphos was first determined, yielding IC(50) values of 0.736 and 1.30 mg l(-1) for gill and haemolymph, respectively. Exposure of mussels to 0.1 mg l(-1) azamethiphos for periods of up to 24h caused a significant reduction in acetylcholinesterase activity in both the haemolymph (P<0.0002) and the gill (P<0.002), alteration in cell viability (P<0.02) and decrease in phagocytic index (P<0.03). The feeding rate remained unaffected. The results support the hypothesis that, in addition to its neurotoxic effects, azamethiphos can modulate haemocyte function and immune defence in M. edulis at environmentally relevant concentrations after only a few hours.