Action Alert!

Tell the NC General Assembly to do more to protect farm workers!

On Thursday, February 19, the North Carolina Pesticide Board announced their final decision regarding the state’s case against Ag-Mart, Inc. After four years of deliberation, the NC Pesticide Board concluded that it could only prove Ag-Mart guilty of six of the more than 200 remaining charges in the case. Ag-Mart has been fined a total of $3,000 for the six charges.

Hundreds of charges first came to light in 2005 when three babies with severe birth defects were born to Ag-Mart workers who worked in tomato fields in North Carolina and Florida during their pregnancies.

The Board’s decision to let Ag-Mart go with such a small penalty for such serious charges is a tremendous disappointment. The blame, however, does not belong to the Pesticide Board, since the Board can only enforce the state’s laws. It’s up to the public to make those laws more effective at protecting workers.

Contact your state legislators today and ask them to do more to ensure that a case like Ag-Mart won’t happen again in NC. To find your state legislators, visit NC Conservation Network’s Legislator-Lookup, enter your address and then click on the “State” tab.

Here are some brief talking points:

• $500 per violation is far too low for companies who put their workers in danger. Larger fines are necessary to discourage the misuse of pesticides, especially for large companies for whom a few $500 fines represent a tiny fraction of annual profits.
  
• When an employer puts the safety of their employees at risk, it should not matter whether or not they meant to do so. The willfulness of a pesticide violation is often impossible to prove and should not be part of North Carolina’s pesticide law.
  
• Growers should be required to keep records of when workers return to recently sprayed fields. Consistent records are crucial for the state during pesticide investigations, and many of North Carolina’s best growers already keep these kinds of records.

Here are some tips for talking to your elected officials.

See the recent News & Observer article on the Board’s decision

ABOUT THE FARMWORKER ADVOCACY NETWORK:
The Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN) is a network of organizations that
advocates for improvements in farmworkers' living and working conditions. FAN
members include: East Coast Migrant Head Start Project, El Pueblo, Inc.,
Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Farmworker Unit
of Legal Aid*, National Farm Worker Ministry, NC Community Health Center
Association, NC Justice Center, NC Farmworkers' Project, NC Farmworker Health
Program*, NC Latino Coalition, Student Action with Farmworkers, Telamon*, Toxic
Free NC, and Western NC Workers' Center. *Advisory Members only.

FAN CONTACTS:
Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director, Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF)
1317 W Pettigrew Street, Durham, NC 27705
|P| 919.660.361, |F| 919.681.7600,