Día de los Muertos

By: Jennie Wilburn

Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday to remember family members who have passed away and to celebrate their lives. It is associated with the religious holidays All Saints’ Day, November 1, and All Souls' Day, November 2, and should not be confused with Halloween.  It is particularly relevant for farm workers due to the fact that farm work is dangerous, with two deaths occurring in North Carolina fields just last year. Since about three quarters of North Carolina’s migrant workers are of Mexican descent, this holiday is important as a time to remember those who have died doing farm work. As these deaths often occur in rural, isolated areas, they frequently go unreported and thus unrecognized.

To remember those farmworkers whose deaths may have been ignored or overlooked, I have written a calavera in their honor.  The Spanish word “calavera” means skull, but for Dia de los Muertos the word takes on different meanings. Most commonly, it refers to the brightly decorated sugar skulls that are eaten as treats. Similarly, calaveras can refer to short, witty poems written to criticize a social situation or person, usually aimed at politicians or celebrities. In recognition of Dia de los Muertos, I have written a calavera in honor of farmworkers who have lost their lives doing their job. My goal, however, is not to be satirical or political, but rather to follow in the Day of the Dead tradition of reminding us that the actions of the living can have fatal consequences and that life, death and labor are inseparable parts of our human existence.

Images are the work of Russian artist Dimitri Tsykalov

Cruzaste la frontera, el primer gran labor,
Para empezar una nueva vida con tu sangre y sudor.
Te dieron muchas promesas
Pero encontraste sufrimiento entre los pepinos y las fresas.

Duro es el labor
Fuerte es el calor
Desde 2005 cinco se han muerto de la insolación
Y para sus familias no hay consolación.

Por Buenaventura Cortez Martínez, quien murió temprano,
Perdió su vida y su cuerpo humano
En una cosechadora de tabaco
Para que otros ganaran dinero en el saco.

Estas son las personas que cultivan nuestro trigo
Pero viven y trabajan en los campos de peligro
Cultivan y siembran casi todas nuestras comidas
Pero no escuchamos nada de sus vidas abolidas.

Ya viene la Santa Muerte con su hoz
Por el trabajador que no tiene voz
Ellos han trabajado bajo el sol quemándose la piel
Espero que ya entren en la tierra de leche y miel.

En este Día de Todos los Santos
No trato de darte muchos espantos
Sino escribo la verdad
Para honrar a los que satisfacen nuestra necesidad
Y quienes merecen morir llenos de dignidad.

You crossed the border, the first of many a trial and test,
to start a new life by blood and sweat;
You were told many promises, although you were wary,
But all you found was sorrow amidst the cucumbers and strawberries.

The work is hard
The heat bombards
For the five people who since 2005 died of heat stroke[1]
There are no words of comfort for their family that one can evoke.

For Buenaventura Cortez Martínez who died so young[2],
He lost his life when his body was flung
Into a tobacco harvesting machine;
He paid the price so that profits could be gleaned.

For Mario Andrés Castillo Avena who carried a large load[3]
His tractor one day ran off the road;
He fell and died in a ditch
Allowing Death to carry him off bewitched.

These are the people who harvest our wheat
Who are forced to work in fields of deceit;
They plant and harvest our precious food
But their deaths we ignore and exclude.

Here comes Death with her sickle in hand
For the worker who cannot take a stand,
Those who work whenever it’s rainy or sunny
I hope they now enter the land of milk and honey.

On this Day of All Saints
A gruesome picture I don't mean to paint;
Rather I write with veracity
To honor those people who sow the seeds
And who deserve to die full of dignity. 

---

[1] http://www.ncfhp.org/pdf/deaths.pdf

[2] http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/08/05/1113618?sac=Home

[3] http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/188455/57/Troopers-Migrant-Worker-Dies-When-Tractor-Runs-Off-Road

Farmworker Church

By: Lindsay Eierman

For the past two years, I have been a part of a Duke Divinity School group called Caminantes. We are a group of students who feel called to minister with Hispanic communities both in the United States and abroad. To cultivate our ministerial skills, we gather weekly for spiritual formation meetings where we read the Bible, sing worship music, and pray – all in Spanish. For some of us, Spanish is a second tongue. For others, it is a mother tongue. In addition to these gatherings, we also visit local Hispanic ministries and go on excursions to Hispanic communities. Our first Caminantes excursion of the year brought us to a farmworker house in Stem, North Carolina. 

We went to Stem to learn about a transformative experience taking place in the life of one of our Divinity School classmates. Last year, as this student pastor was studying in his parsonage, he noticed a group of farmworkers loading onto and unloading from a bus as they made their morning and evening commutes from their house to the fields each day. After a few weeks of observation, the student pastor (who knew very little Spanish) crossed the street to introduce himself to his neighbors. In subsequent visits, he brought bilingual colleagues and began to form thirteen new friendships. 

When we arrived in Stem on a Sunday around 3PM, the farmworkers weren’t yet home. So we talked with the pastor about ways that he was hoping to get his church involved with this house of farmworkers. He explained that in a rural church, there isn’t a full calendar of activities available. The main event is Sunday morning worship.

As I listened to the pastor shared his experiences, I realized that even if this church is open to welcoming farmworkers to their Sunday morning services, farmworkers don’t have Sundays off from work. Weekends are a luxury, not a civil right. Although it is a biblical command to take Sabbath, it is not yet a Department of Labor requirement. Realizing that it would be easier to add a church service than to demand a weekly Sabbath for farmworkers, I tried to imagine how a church might arrange a worship service conducive to the farmworker lifestyle. But I kept coming up with reasons for why it could never work: farmworkers are probably tired at the end of long twelve-hour workdays; farmworkers would probably feel uncomfortable entering churches that their bosses attend; farmworkers don’t stay in communities for very long periods of time and therefore might not be interested in joining a church.

As I racked my brain for creative ideas about how to develop a farmworker-friendly church, the bus of farmworkers pulled up to the house across the street. The thirteen men invited us into their home, where everyone introduced himself or herself. We then read some scripture and shared in the Lord’s Supper, feasting on bread and grape juice as a sign of God’s love toward us and our fellowship with each other. Then, we continued feasting by breading apart slices of pizza and guzzling down cups of soda. Over bites of cheese and pepperoni, I chatted with one farmworker about his daily Scripture reading, with another farmworker about our shared love of horchata and the Pumas soccer team of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and another farmworker about his baby girl who he hasn’t seen for six months.

On the bus ride home, I returned to lamenting about the logistical challenges of making church available to farmworkers. I tried to creatively rethink church and then I realized that perhaps the answer was right before my eyes – perhaps our Sunday evening gathering of pizza and soda and chatting was church.

In my worship class this semester, we learned that the four basic parts of Methodist worship include: the entrance, the proclamation and response, the thanksgiving/Holy Communion, and the sending forth. I think our visit to the farmworker house loosely followed this structure:

• Entrance: Just as clergy persons greet congregants with words of welcome, the farmworkers welcomed the Caminantes group into their home with smiles and happy handshakes. We entered the house with recognition that this house was not our own just as church members enter the House of God with an attitude of reverence and respect.
• Proclamation and Response: As the Caminantes introduced themselves, we proclaimed that we came to visit the farmworkers because as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are committed to caring for and being with the marginalized and oppressed in our community. We also read scripture that affirmed the Biblical rationale for our beliefs.
• Thanksgiving/Holy Communion: Everyone confessed his or her individual and corporate sins to one another and then celebrated the Lord’s Supper as a sign of reconciliation between God and us and between each other. We continued that meal of reconciliation with our pizza supper.
• Sending Forth: The Caminantes group left the farmworkers’ house with a renewed sense of mission. We feel called to transform the church into a place where all of God’s children have an opportunity to join in fellowship with a body of believers.

Certainly this wasn’t your typical worship service, yet it was more genuine and authentic than many megachurch services I’ve attended. I praise God for the opportunity to share in this farmworker church and I pray that communities like it continue to thrive and grow as the church remembers its commitment to live as faithful followers of Christ’s radical message of hospitality.

Lindsay Eierman is a candidate for a Master of Divinity graduating in May 2013. She is the co-coordinator of Manos Unidas- a Duke Divinity student group that celebrates ministry with Hispanic communities.

Fighting Farmworker Legislation like Christians

By: Jennie Wilburn 

Bishop Will Willimon, former dean of Duke Chapel, is one of the most influential pastors in America, as his books have sold over a million copies and he is editor-at-large of The Christian Century. Bishop Will Willimon is currently serving the United Methodist Church in the North Alabama conference, where he recently gained attention for speaking out against Alabama’s immigration laws. Willimon, along with other Methodist clergy, wrote an open letter to Gov. Robert Bentley calling the immigration legislation “the meanest legislation bill in this country” and “an embarrassment to our state.” On October 4th Bishop Willimon brought his insights and experience to Duke Divinity School to talk about “Fighting Immigration Law Like Christians.” The suggestions that he gave for a Christian response to immigration law can, I believe, also be used in advocating for farmworker legislation, since the immigrant community and farmworker community obviously overlap to a very large extent.  Rallying churches to support immigrants and to call attention to the need for social justice as related to immigration law also means calling attention to the social justice issues relevant to farmworkers.

Bishop Willimon addresses students & faculty at Duke Divinity School (photo credit: Elizabeth Murray)

Bishop Willimon believes that the first goal of the church should be to re-frame the issue of immigration as a theological or ecclesial issue rather than a legal issue. Then, immigration law becomes an “invitation to rediscover the joy of the church,” as the church works together to defend the rights of all people. Farm work, like immigration, is a question of inclusion. It is a human rights issue in that people who do hard work should be paid fairly and treated with respect and dignity.  Bishop Willimon also noted that churches are well suited for this kind of advocacy because they provide a space for thinking about people’s stories, not about the laws. In other words, the church is grounded in narrative. By hearing people tell about how the law impacts their lives, people become personally invested in an issue, instead of being concerned about legalities.

For Bishop Willimon this issue becomes a measure of fidelity for churches. If immigration law does not detrimentally affect one’s church, he says, then your church is not fulfilling God’s call to serve all people. This radical inclusion is an appeal to harvest the church’s collective power to fight against immigration law. If this same question of faithfulness were posed in rural churches concerning the workers who pick the foods that the people bring to potlucks or fellowship meals, who live in the same communities but are made to feel unwelcome in a country that they cannot call home and whose laws force them to live in fear, it is likely that parishioners would become mobilized to use their resources in order to welcome the stranger.

The goods news is that Bishop Willimon sees the challenges proposed by immigration law as a “miraculous hope” because of the changes that he has seen in his churches in Alabama. Willimon defines change as a miracle that is divinely initiated. For many who work in the Farmworker Movement, change is indeed a miracle as it is something that is a continuous struggle and requires great patience to achieve. Though change may be slow for farmworker justice, there is hope in the churches that are confronting this issue and responding to it in loving and hospitable ways. This gives those working in the agricultural justice movement the miraculous hope to continue fighting to open the eyes, ears and hearts of people everywhere.

If you are interested in hosting a film screening of our documentary at your church or any other location, Harvest of Dignity, please contact Jennie Wilburn at jkw16@duke.edu. For faith based resources about farmworkers. please see the NC Council of Churches website for factsheets or Bible Study. For resources to use in church worship, please see the National Farm Worker Ministry website for prayers and scriptures in Spanish and English.  

This Labor Day Consider the Laborers

By: Jennie Wilburn 

As we head into Labor Day weekend, most Americans are anticipating a Monday off from work and a time to spend with their families celebrating the end of summer with one final barbecue. However, most people do not considerwe sometimes forget the laborers themselves on Labor Day.

Most of the food that Americans buy at the supermarket has been grown and harvested by laborers who spend long hours with few breaks toiling in the fields or factories, performing repetitive tasks, bent over, often in extreme weather, with no paid holidays or sick days. For their hard work farmworkers receive very little pay, often less than $12,000 a year. For all that they do to provide those who do not farm with food, migrant workers also put themselves in danger. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, farming is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.[1] More farmworkers died due to job-related causes in 2010 than miners, roofers, police officers, or truck drivers. The average life expectancy for a farmworker is significantly lower than that of people in other professions due to heat stress, chemical exposure, unsafe transportation, and farm machine accidents.

Also, as you barbecue your chicken or cut up cucumbers for your salad, remember the that farmworkers have not only suffered physically for your food, but also suffered injustices. The majority of farm workers are immigrants to the United States, and of those immigrants about half are working legally as citizens or under guest worker laws. Most farmworkers have not completed a high school education and most speak English as a second language or not at all. This lack of education and inability to speak the language, along with the barriers of being unfamiliar with the US legal system, results in most farmworkers not knowing their rights as workers. This lack of knowledge allows corporations to exploit farmworker labor. Farmworkers may be forced to work long and unfair hours without overtime and tolerate unsafe conditions without hazard pay or insurance when they are hurt. Farmworkers are often not allowed to unionize and have few legal protections against unjust practices such as sexual harassment. Likewise, child labor laws are different for agricultural work than for any other type of work. Children as young as 12 can work in the fields with no limit to the hours that they work while not in school.[2]

This Labor Day, if you happen to be lucky enough to sit down to an American-grown meal, consider the farmworkers who harvested your food. Those workers did not get to stop and take a holiday. Furthermore, the farmworkers receive very little of the sticker price of your groceries in return for his work. Of the amount that you paid for the food in the supermarket, farmworkers receive about 10 cents for every $1 you spent.[3] After you have considered these facts, pledge to take action to help farmworkers by researching local farms that welcome unions and treat their workers well and by supporting legislation that provides farmworkers with safe conditions and fair wages. If one person considers a farmworker at each meal and pledges to make a change, then one day we will arrive at a society that not only affords basic dignity to all its workers, but also provides its workers with the same wages and protections for all people in all types of labor.

---

[1] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

[2] http://www.ncfh.org/?pid=4&page=9

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/17/could-farms-survive-without-illegal-labor/the-costs-and-benefits-of-a-raise-for-field-workers

The Dangers of Agricultural Work

By Elaine Bartlett, Episcopal Farm Worker Ministry

The dangers of agricultural work have been widely reported—machinery accidents and heat stroke alone cause hundreds of farmworker deaths each year. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the fatality rate for agricultural workers is seven times higher than for all workers in private industry. OSHA recently launched a campaign to prevent heat illness among outdoor workers, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has announced it is making a “major research and outreach priority” of retrofitting older tractors – the cause of most rollover deaths – with protective structures.

However, little has been done to ensure that farmworkers are educated about and provided the means to prevent or treat another major occupational hazard of agricultural work. Skin diseases and disorders are widely prevalent among U.S. farmworkers, with an incident rate of four to six times higher than workers in all other industries. Excessive exposure to sun, as well as to pesticides, dust and fungi, combined with lack of medical treatment, contribute to a widespread problem that has a major impact on farmworkers’ quality of life. Recent research of North Carolina agricultural workers, published in the Journal of Rural Health, showed that over 95 percent of farmworkers studied were afflicted by some form of skin disease. Fungal infections and sunburn regularly affected 58 percent of North Carolina farmworkers in a 2008 study that appeared in the International Journal of Dermatology. Acne, calluses, dermatitis and tinea pedis afflicted between 40 and 67 percent of the farmworkers.

Although such problems are readily acknowledged within farmworker communities, several factors prevent effective prevention and treatment, including lack of health insurance and money for treatment. U.S. health care reform, which will be fully implemented in 2014, is not likely to have a significant impact on farmworkers’ lives. At least half of farmworkers nationwide do not have the necessary immigration status to qualify for Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchanges available to low income Americans.

Under health care reform, migrant health clinics will receive funding that will allow for an increased level of services. However, only about 20 percent of farmworkers nationwide currently utilize such clinics, according to a 2005 report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and the issues that limit farmworkers’ use of such clinics are ones that cannot be addressed by the Affordable Care Act. About 90 percent of farmworkers report that they speak and read little to no English, according to the Kaiser report. The vast majority of farmworkers are Latinos from Mexico and other central American countries. While the primary language is Spanish, the Journal of Rural Health study found that 10 to 15 percent of their participants primarily spoke an indigenous language, such as Mixteco or Zapoteco, that made even Spanish language health care inaccessible.

Lack of transportation to clinics and fear of missing work – and wages – can be other factors that serve as a barrier to health care.

For these reasons, it is imperative to focus on outreach services to farmworkers in our communities to cover the gaps that government funded health care cannot address.

Providing farmworkers with access to a sufficient amount of clothing and hygienic items is key in decreasing the rate of skin disorders and other illnesses related to dermal exposure, such as green tobacco illness. Long sleeve shirts, long pants and gloves provide necessary protection from sun, chemicals, and insects, as well as nicotine residue in tobacco plants. For optimal health workers must have access to several changes of clothes per day as the fabric frequently becomes saturated with pesticides, perspiration, dust and other elements. Given that up to 30 workers may share a wash tub at camp, it is not always feasible to launder regularly, increasing the need for a significant supply of clothes per worker.

Equally important is the availability of soap, shampoo and other toiletries that cleanse the skin of pesticides - and, in the case of tobacco workers, crop residues. Providing workers with full spectrum sunblock can help reduce the incidence of sunburn and, ultimately, skin cancer. Access to hydrocortisone cream and other topical treatments significantly reduces the level of discomfort associated with dermatitis, and hydrogen peroxide and bandages can prevent infection from abrasions common to agricultural work.

Farmworkers serve a vital function in our country, harvesting crops for a wage that few Americans would consider acceptable. Farmworkers often spend the majority of each year far away from their homes and families, doing backbreaking labor and living in isolated camps in often substandard conditions. In these last weeks of summer, let us consider the harvest that we have enjoyed this season and what we can do to improve the quality of life for those who have provided for us.

Elaine Bartlett serves on the board of directors of Episcopal Farmworker Ministry. EFwM, in partnership with faith communities of all denominations in North Carolina, provides work clothing, toiletries and over-the-counter skin treatments to workers in 50 migrant labor camps in Sampson, Harnett and Johnson counties. To learn more, visit www.efwm.org

The Triangle Food Frenzy – What’s Cool and What’s Not

Guest post by Erin Krauss

Food. Mmm…..the most natural of pleasures; melt in your mouth butter, delicate tastes of salt and sugar, coffee and cream…or…over-zealous, raw, freshly chopped, crunchy…....pure nourishment. Food is good, food is fun, and frankly these days, food is COOL. The Triangle can give testament to this fact. Food draws in the crowd - from locals seeking a new menu, to students shopping around for an economical fast fix. Everything from swanky restaurants to corner food trucks has exploded over the last few years in urban centers of central North Carolina, and across the state. Food-lovers are salivating at the variety of choices and all hours of the day you can obtain a taco, dumpling, raw smoothie, or NC BBQ. The recent attention on food has been accompanied by a number of “food movements” advocating for positive changes in our food system over-all; this kind of community action has gained praise and some critique.

A recent article by Sally Kohn in Salon speaks to the contradictory phenomenon of food becoming more and more popular on a national level, while the people who are responsible for growing, processing, and cooking our food, are not. Otherwise they would have fair treatment and fair wages, right? The author argues that the “foody movement” has resulted in a massive trend towards hypersensitivity for the organic, the humane treatment of animals, and the local nature of food as well as health-conscious and environmentally conscious critique of food. Kohn claims that the ironic thing missing in the popularization of cool and fancy foods is a level of genuine concern surrounding the people that make food production happen. In Kohn’s words, “In the food industry, as in America overall, the concerns of low-wage workers tend to get swept under the table...”

Kohn’s critique highlights the importance of a very needed global perspective when it comes to “foody” movements, but let’s not forget the strides we have made in NC and other communities over the last several years. As buy local and support small & organic farms campaigns have gained momentum – so have efforts surrounding environmentally sound agriculture practice, growing consumer consciousness and even some equitable prices that reflect what sustainable food and fair labor practices actually require. Local food movements and other food-awareness efforts have done a good job at educating on alternatives to multinational corporations and big agro-business. Ultimately – whether advocates are pushing for local food or quality food (organic, sustainable, healthy) the common vision often seems to be to strengthen communities over all. 

Contrary to Kohn, others argue that a problem lies not in the current focus of food-movements, but rather, what food-movements often lack. While overall, the objective of food-movements are to strengthen our communities, it’s not clear whom exactly it is that we include in our definition of community. A variety of people have a stake in food movements. However, not all the diverse stakeholders are talking together about how they are connected and how to work towards common goals. More often then not, many stakeholders (farmworkers themselves) are simply ignored & excluded from the conversation about how to create a new kind of food-system. Conscientious consumers, restaurant and stores, and small farmers have done well to make a dent in their own spheres. But how could we all work together more effectively and inclusively to make a larger impact on the agricultural machine that is the NC economy?

First, we could all reflect deeply on the fact that most of the 150,000 farmworkers and 28,000 poultry living and workers in our state community do not have a regular seat at the "food movement" table. When have farmworkers been invited to join the local food movements’ conversations? When haven’t they? And why is this so? Thinking about these questions is challenging and requires a social justice perspective that sometimes isolated food campaigns can lack. A social justice perspective means prioritizing inclusive decision making and strategizing, refusing to marginalize groups of people that historically have had the least power and have been exploited the most, and believing that the most affected should lead. If we want food movements to strengthen the whole community we all need to have a frank discussion about who is included in our definition of community, and, more importantly – who is excluded and why.

Second, we can all, no matter who we are, push for changes in the larger NC-food system that we all depend on, whether directly or indirectly by virtue of living here. Organizing new efforts around small & organic farming and socially aware business are invaluable - and we must keep up this good work. Equally important is pushing for real change in the massive, exploitative food-system we have had for so long in this southern state.  

If we all make efforts to reflect deeply on how we talk together and who is included in conversation, and if we all push for change in "alternative" and "traditional" food arenas, perhaps by next year, we will have enough diverse stakeholders to make a global food movement that benefits health, environment, local economy, and social and labor rights alike. Perhaps foodies and farmworker advocates will work together and succeed at passing the bill that failed in last year’s legislative session that would provide protections to NC child farmworkers. And maybe with this unified public support, by next year the NC Department of Labor will have leadership that is committed to enforcing NC labor laws and protecting all workers in NC – even farmworkers. Finally, if food movements can grow a stronger social justice perspective – perhaps by next year there won’t be quite as much space between the stakeholders - the “foody”, the small restaurant owner, the small farmer, and the migrant laborer who has worked in NC for decades.

My hope is that someday soon, all of us in the Triangle region and across NC will connect our food pleasures to all people that make food possible. Let us make this food-trend honor the joy that is taste and nourishment, as well as the justice & respect that food-workers deserve. If we create the product, eat the product, make profit from it, or simply live in this state that depends on agriculture - we all have a responsibility in this food chain. 

Harvest of Dignity: Film, Live Music, Trivia for Farmworkers

Join the Farmworker Advocacy Network for a night of live music, theme trivia, and the public tv debut of an award-winning documentary about North Carolina farmworkers. 

Thursday, Aug. 16, 7pm-11pm
Fullsteam Brewery
726 Rigsbee Ave., Durham NC

Click here for more info.

In 1960, legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow brought the plight of the migrant farmworker into the consciousness of many Americans through his shocking “Harvest of Shame” documentary that aired on CBS primetime. Fifty years later, Minnow Media (http://www.minnowmedia.net/) produced “Harvest of Dignity,” a half-hour program that reveals many of the same social, health and labor injustices faced by those working in the U.S. agricultural system today.

Filmed in North Carolina, the new award-winning documentary combines interviews with area farmworkers, advocates, faith leaders and educators, documentary photos, and interviews collected by Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF). It was commissioned by SAF and funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and Oxfam America. “Harvest of Dignity” makes its debut on public television (UNC-TV) on August 16th. 

Two local bands--Bluegrass band Down River (www.reverbnation.com/downriverbluegrass) and Americana/Folk-Rock outfit Mary Johnson Rockers and the Spark(www.reverbnation.com/maryjohnsonrockers) will kick off the event at 7pm. Trivia will start at 9 followed by the documentary broadcast at 10. Come on over if you’re a trivia regular and are up for a challenge on a new topic, are a fan of homegrown music and locally-brewed beer, or simply if you want to know more about agricultural and poultry workers in North Carolina and ways to get involved in a campaign fighting for safe places for them to work and live, and stronger enforcement of existing laws designed to protect the people that bring the vast majority of our food to our tables.

A Heavy Burden

By Claire Carson, Toxic Free NC/Superfund Research Center Intern 

Several weeks ago, we visited the home of a farmworker, a teenage girl who was nearly four months pregnant. It was a sweltering afternoon, and we sat around the family’s kitchen table snacking on pickled pork rind dusted with chile and lime. When asked if she was taking care of herself during pregnancy, the girl replied that yes, instead of working a full day, she’d only work half days in the fields. I can only imagine the discomfort of working in the fields while pregnant, not to mention the hazards of doing so. Being around pesticides harms anyone at any age, but pesticide exposure presents a greater danger to pregnant women, who could jeopardize their child’s health in addition to their own.

It’s pretty easy to find research connecting prenatal pesticide exposure to all kinds of awful health risks. Many recent environmental health journals include studies on the effects of pesticides on a developing brain. Common pesticides can lead to an increased risk of leukemia, brain tumors, and lymphoma.They also affect brain function, leading to slower reflexes and mental development, as well as a greater risk of Autism and ADHD. Prenatal exposure leads to more miscarriages and birth defects in our population. Since these chemicals are designed to kill living organisms, it’s no surprise that they harm developing humans as well.

In fact, the organophosphate class of pesticides was designed to kill more than just the insects that eat our food; they were developed during World War II to be used as nerve agents (http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/about/types.htm). Chlorpyrifos, one of the most well known organophosphates, appears in numerous studies to determine how it affects the human nervous system. Last year, the New York Times drew attention to a UC-Berkeley study showing that higher exposure to Chlorpyrifos lowered a child’s IQ (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/pesticide-exposure-in-womb-affects-i-q/). Closer to home, Duke’s Dr. Ted Slotkin researches the effects of pesticides on brain development (http://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/superfund/?page_id=122), and has shown that prenatal Chlorpyrifos exposure leads to newborns with abnormally-shaped brains. After being banned from residential use, Chlorpyrifos remains in use in the fields, although use has declined over the past decade. 

Even if she does not work in the fields, a pregnant farm worker can still run the risk of pesticide exposure. Standing in the backyard of that same home near Wilson, the pregnant girl’s mother swept her hand across their backyard of commercial sweet potato fields. A few years ago, when the fields were planted with tobacco, planes would spray pesticides that the wind carried through their house (Even though the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/worker.htm) specifically prohibits pesticide handlers from spraying pesticides in a way that causes direct human exposure). Had this girl been pregnant while the fields behind her house were planted with tobacco, her exposure would have been many times worse.

For most American mothers, shielding their kids from pesticides is a personal lifestyle choice. Expectant mothers can choose not to use insecticides and herbicides in their homes and gardens to limit prenatal exposure. Later, they can send their children to daycares and schools committed to using Integrated Pest Management (http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/factsheets/whatisIPM.html) instead of traditional insecticides. Most American mothers cannot 100% ensure their kids stay away from pesticides, but they do have a certain level of control over their kid’s exposure. Farmworker mothers don’t have any of this control– these women and their children breathe, eat, and live in pesticides every hour of every day. It’s incredibly unfair that farmworker women must risk the health of their future children in order in earn the money they need to live. Farmworkers already carry the burden of harvesting America’s food– why should they carry the burden of a higher risk of chronic illness as well?