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Researching Pesticides in Your Community
Identifying the Problem: Research!
Talk with people in your community about pesticides. You might be able to find out a lot by asking about people’s jobs, health, kids, school, or neighborhood. By talking to community members about their experiences with pesticides, you can also build relationships, hear some ideas about what some possible goals might be for your campaign, and get people to commit to helping out!
Some ideas of questions you can ask:
- Do you know of any high-profile cases of pesticide poisoning of people or animals, or contamination of property, in the community? Which pesticides were involved? When did this occur?
- Do you know of any particular pesticides that are especially a problem in the community because of high or frequent use?
- When do you notice pesticides being used? Is there a certain time of year, month, or hour during the day? Are they used frequently? Where are they used? Do you know who is using them?
- How are the pesticides applied? Are they applied near your home? Do pesticide applications cause problems around any specific areas?
- What do you notice when the pesticides are applied? Do they smell, can you see them, etc.?
- Have you ever gotten sick after seeing pesticides being applied?
- Are they applied near your children’s school? Is that a problem?
- Do your kids or anyone in your family have trouble breathing? Is asthma a problem? When does your kids’ asthma get worse?
- Do you or your family members work in the fields? Do they (or other family members) feel dizzy, get headaches, or feel their skin tingling?
Download Organizing a Drift Campaign (PDF) and go to page 6-10 for a checklist to record the information you collect.
Other resources you can use:
Check out www.pesticideinfo.org to search by pesticide product or chemical for information on human and eco-toxicity, regulatory status, poisoning diagnostic tools, manufacturer, use data, and more. From this site, you can also link to other online resources about pesticides.
The PesticideInfo site can also help you figure out which pesticides are used on certain crops or in certain areas of California. For other states, check the Agricultural Department or Agricultural Extension web sites in your state.
Organizing a Drift Campaign
For a checklist and forms, download Organizing a Drift Campaign (PDF).
Contact information
If you have questions please call (415) 981-1771 or e-mail driftcatcher@panna.org.
Resources
- Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists, Bobo, Kimberly et al., Seven Locks Press (Santa Ana, CA).
- Rainforest Action Network Activist Toolbox
- SPIN Project (Strategic Press Information Network) provides media technical assistance to nonprofit public-interest organizations.
- Technical Pesticide Information: PAN’s Pesticides Database
- The website you are on now, Pesticide Action Network North America has a variety of publications, fact sheets and other resources on various issues related to pesticides.