California Legal Rural Assistance attorneys appeal the decision to the state.

Marilyn Lynds-Dismukes and her neighbors in Moss Landing thought they had it bad last year when a farmer planned to pump methyl bromide into the soil outside their homes. Methyl bromide, a fumigant used to kill parasites and weeds, has been proven to cause neurological damage and reproductive harm. But now, instead of this dangerous chemical, Lynds-Dismukes and her family could be breathing a pesticide cocktail of telone, a likely carcinogen, and chloropicrin, a tear-gas-like toxin that can cause vomiting.

The chemicals will also be applied closer to home. While methyl bromide can’t be applied within 300 feet of residences, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation only requires a 100-foot buffer for telone and chloropicrin. This is unnerving to Lynds-Dismukes.

“Nobody in this neighborhood wants to be poisoned or see their kids poisoned,” she says while sitting in her wheelchair with a small crowd of neighbors on Portero Road near Highway 1.

Lynds-Dismukes has post-polio syndrome and her husband is recovering from cancer. Neither of them wants to jeopardize their health further with pesticide exposure. Plus, they have an 11-year daughter, who is home schooled and likes to play outside.

 “These pesticides are known to affect your development system and she is just starting to grow,” Lynds-Dismukes says.

Across Portero Road is a plot of green lettuce shoots and ag fields that stretch to the Salinas River. Farmers have long grown artichokes and row crops on the land near Moss Landing Heights. The small neighborhood protested last year when San Juan Berry Farm tried to plant strawberries and apply methyl bromide on 26 acres close to their homes. The farm then moved its berries back 1,000 feet from the residents.

But now Steve Rodoni of Springfield Farms wants to fumigate more than 54 of these acres to grow strawberries. Rodoni selected telone and chloropicrin as an alternative to the unpopular methyl bromide, which will soon be phased out due to its effects on the ozone layer. Rodoni did not return calls seeking comment.

Farmers are expected to increasingly use a mix of telone and chloropicrin as methyl bromide becomes less available. While chloropicrin and telone are designed to control nematodes or roundworms, and certain soil-borne pathogens, they are also toxic to humans.

Telone, also called 1,3-Dichloropropene, can cause irreversible eye damage. Rats exposed to the chemical developed tumors in their lungs, liver, thyroid and other parts of their body. Still, the EPA concludes that even after 30 years of exposure, the chance of humans developing cancer from telone is still a long shot.

The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies chloropicrin in the highest toxicity category because it is extremely irritating to the eyes, skin and upper respiratory tract. The latest chloropicrin poisoning occurred in October 2005, when the pesticide drifted into the Creekbridge neighborhood in Salinas and sickened about 60 residents.

On July 3 Rodoni received the green light from the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner to inject the pesticides into the soil over a three-month period, starting July 15. Telone and chloropicrin would be used on the 13 acres of crops directly across the street from Moss Landing Heights. A mixture of methyl bromide and chloropicrin would be applied to the rest. The use of less methyl bromide and assurances by the Agricultural Commissioner haven’t made residents feel any safer.

Salinas’ California Legal Rural Assistance office has appealed the decision to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

Although the chemicals will be injected into the ground, this doesn’t mean that neighbors won’t be exposed to the toxins. Residents fear they will be breathing in the fumigants when they off-gas to the atmosphere. According to the EPA, people who live near fields injected with telone may be exposed to a volatized form of the substance for two weeks after the application.

In his decision to uphold the pesticide permit, Ag Commissioner Eric Lauritzen said Rodoni will follow all state regulations to mitigate any exposure to off-gassing. Any drift that could occur during the application is very unlikely since the fumigants will be injected at least 10 inches into the ground, Lauritzen says. “In evaluating proposed pesticide applications our most important priority is human safety, and we do not compromise on that,” he says.

Due to residents’ concerns, including 52 letters, Lauritzen extended the buffer zone by 25 feet. So instead of the barrier starting at their doorsteps, it would start at their property lines and go 100 feet across Portero Road to the field.

Mike Meuter, director of litigation, advocacy and training for CRLA, says Lauritzen abused his discretion by issuing the permit. Meuter says the Ag Commissioner failed to consider impacts on the western snowy plover and southern sea otter.

Using the road as a buffer is unacceptable, Meuter says. “There are kids that play on that road. There needs to be additional protection for the people who live out there.”

CRLA has requested that the Department of Pesticide Regulation halt any pesticide applications until the state department has made a decision on CRLA’s appeal. Meuter also requested a public meeting to review the pesticide permit. By press time a meeting date had not been set.