Valerie Bengal

The rates of pediatric cancer in Santa Cruz are the second highest of all counties in the state, writes Valerie Bengal, a physician who has been practicing for four decades in Salinas and the Pajaro Valley. “At 22.5 childhood cancers per 100,000 children, the rate in our county is more than 38% above the overall California rate of 16.3 between 2017 and 2021,” she writes. She blames pesticides as a likely contributor and insists we must do more to limit their use.