I appreciate that this article did a good job of conveying the debate over the Ag Wavier for the last few years, but I am left asking why did this article only devote only one paragraph to the human health effects. Why didn’t this article interview people whose health has been affected by nitrate contaminated water? Unfortunately, by casting this as an issue of environmentalist vs. farmer, rather than sick families vs. farmers, we end up thinking that birds and otters are the only ones impacted. According to the UC Davis report cited in this article, 10% of the people in Salinas Valley are at risk of nitrate contamination in their delivered drinking water – mostly people with small wells. I’ve been involved with this issue for two years because people I care about have had severe health consequences from nitrate contaminated drinking water. These effects include hair loss, gastrointestinal problems, and rashes. There are many accounts of these symptoms clearing up when they have access to safer water. I would recommend watching this video to hear from people who live in the Salinas Valley and whose health has been impacted with nitrate contaminated drinking water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoGd56...
Surface Tension
I appreciate that this article did a good job of conveying the debate over the Ag Wavier for the last few years, but I am left asking why did this article only devote only one paragraph to the human health effects. Why didn’t this article interview people whose health has been affected by nitrate contaminated water? Unfortunately, by casting this as an issue of environmentalist vs. farmer, rather than sick families vs. farmers, we end up thinking that birds and otters are the only ones impacted. According to the UC Davis report cited in this article, 10% of the people in Salinas Valley are at risk of nitrate contamination in their delivered drinking water – mostly people with small wells. I’ve been involved with this issue for two years because people I care about have had severe health consequences from nitrate contaminated drinking water. These effects include hair loss, gastrointestinal problems, and rashes. There are many accounts of these symptoms clearing up when they have access to safer water. I would recommend watching this video to hear from people who live in the Salinas Valley and whose health has been impacted with nitrate contaminated drinking water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoGd56...