April 19, 2022People of color more likely to be harmed by pesticides, study finds
People of color and low-income communities are at disproportionate risk of pesticide exposure, a new study has found. Roughly 90% of pesticide use in the US is in agriculture, making farmworkers – 83% of whom identify as Hispanic – more vulnerable to the synthetic chemicals intended to kill, repel or control pests. Jeannie Economos, pesticide safety and environmental health project coordinator at the Farmworker Association of Florida, said: “We need to get rid of these pesticides and find alternatives. They’re not only poisoning farmworkers, they are in our groundwater, on our food, and depleting our soil.”