On Tuesday, farmworker advocates and members of the California for Pesticide Reform (CPR) rallied at the State of California building, protesting a new state policy on 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) and demanding stricter limits on fumigants near schools and farmworker communities.
Rocio Madrigal, a community organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), pointed to exposure in West Park, an unincorporated community in South Fresno that is largely Latino and home to West Park Elementary.
“I’m here to demand that the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) prioritize health,” Madrigal said. “The new proposed rule is a racist regulation that sacrifices Latinos, Mexicanos. Those are the ones that reside in West Park and unincorporated communities of the city of Fresno.”
Advocates cited new pesticide-monitoring data collected by the CCEJN and Sonoma Technology, which found 1,3-D levels in South Central Fresno varied up to threefold across five monitoring sites from November 2024 to May 2025.
The highest concentrations were detected near West Park Elementary — even when no permitted applications had been recorded nearby.
Madrigal said the findings show Latino neighborhoods, where children and elderly residents spend significant time outdoors, face disproportionate health risks.
She argued that current state regulations create double standards that protect corporate profits, particularly for companies like Dow Chemical, instead of community health.
In its proposed regulation, the DPR says the new rules are designed to strengthen public health protections while allowing growers to continue using 1,3-D under tighter controls.
The rule would establish buffer zones around homes, schools and other occupied buildings, require written agreements to vacate if residents must leave during fumigation and institute annual reporting and air monitoring tied to statewide exposure thresholds.
If concentrations exceed those levels, DPR says it will implement additional mitigation measures. The agency maintains the policy balances agricultural needs with expanded safety protections.
Another speaker, Lourdes Medina, a member of CPR’s Fresno chapter, said she became involved after learning how pesticides are applied in school districts and how little parents are informed.
Medina, whose granddaughter attends preschool in the area, said young children are especially vulnerable because they absorb more chemicals than adults. She argued that many families are unaware of when pesticides are being used or what alternatives, such as integrated pest management strategies, are supposed to be used before chemicals are applied.
“We don’t always know what’s in the air we’re breathing,” Medina said. “Our kids are outside playing while this is happening, and parents aren’t being told.”
Medina said the lack of awareness reflects deeper inequities, where families in agricultural and low-income areas have fewer resources to detect or respond to health risks. She urged lawmakers to recognize the faces behind policy decisions.
The proposed regulation is currently moving through the state approval process and could be finalized later this year. Advocates say they plan to continue organizing, both locally and in Sacramento, to demand stricter rules before the policy is adopted.
“We want them to remember our faces when they vote,” Medina said.
