Erika Alfaro, a Santa Cruz resident and pediatric nurse case manager, was one of dozens from across California who implored regulators to limit the use of 1,3-dichloropropene on crops during a recent hearing in Sacramento. The regulatory board has proposed “allowing 14 times more cancer-causing 1,3-D in the air that farmworker communities breathe” than the state’s office of environmental health says is safe, she says. “If this pesticide were applied in Los Gatos or Saratoga, where affluent communities reside, would this even be an issue?” she asks.
