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Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017
Third World conditions'
New rules to protect Oregon’s farmworkers from pesticide poisoning fa il to do so, advocates say
P H O T O B Y E M IL Y G R E E N
A t E&S Farms Inc. in Woodburn, one-room living quarters house farmworkers and their families. About 200 people live at this three-building camp during peak season.
BY EMILY GREEN
attempt to limit or ban the use of select
pesticides handled by the farmworkers it
o get to the Leary Road labor camp from represents - ones known to have harmful
human health effects.
downtown Woodburn, you have to drive
As we walked up to the rows of housing,
past an expansive strip of “premium”
retail outlet stores sitting on the west side of clues to life in the camp were scattered about.
A toddler-sized bicycle sat outside one of the
Interstate 5.
rooms. A picnic table sat outside another. Work
“We have the Woodburn malls and we have
boots lay next to the doorstep we approached.
tons of people - it’s the second-most-visited
Above an air-conditioner, an open window was
place in Oregon,” Ramón Ramírez said as the
sectioned off with cardboard and duct tape.
outlet mall appeared through the car’s
Two Spanish-speaking men from Bakersfield,
passenger-side window.
Calif., invited us inside.
“And less than a mile away,” he continued,
There was no bathroom and no running
“are Third World conditions.”
water, although communal hygiene facilities
Within five minutes, we arrived at the camp.
were available in a nearby building.
Three single-level buildings housing one-
The room had little furniture other than
room living quarters sat adjacent to the berry
three bunk beds and some shelving.
fields at E&S Farms Inc. Clotheslines reached
A propane tank, water pitcher and ice chest
across a grassy lawn in front of the camp.
sat next to a table covered with dirty dishes,
Ramirez said that during peak season, those
hot sauce, seasonings and empty soda cans.
lines would be covered with clothing, blowing
The men said there are six workers living in
in the wind to dry.
that single, crowded room, and each pays $100
“There’s other farms that I can’t take you to
a month in rent.
because we would have problems going in,” he
It was mid-September, and the farm was
said, explaining that many have hired guards to
operating with a skeleton crew.
keep advocates like him from entering.
This is the time of year, Ramirez said, that
Ramirez is the director at Pineros y
Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, better known farmers should be spraying their fields with
pesticides - not when camps like this one are
as PCUN. It’s the largest Latino labor union in
Oregon, primarily representing immigrant farm filled to the brim with workers and their
children. He said about 200 people live at this
and forestry workers.
camp during peak season.
PCUN is based in Woodburn, where it also
The health impacts from pesticide exposure
broadcasts a Spanish radio station. It’s
in farmworkers, their children and pregnant
currently involved in seven lawsuits against the
women are well documented, with links to
Environmental Protection Agency, mainly in an
STAFF WRITER
T
"O ar people are fe ltin g
eaaeer and all other hinds
el diseases« Ipiaphoisia^
diabetes^ tendonitis^ bach
problems - we^re paying
the price so that Mnterleans
can eat cheap/"
ftA^dW RAMIREZ, P C U N D IR E C T O R
miscarriage and birth defects from prenatal
exposure, neurological and other development
effects in growing children, as well as links to a
wide range of cancers, tumors and other
serious health effects in adults, according to a
2015 EPA economic analysis.
Farmworkers have a significantly shortened
lifespan, Ramirez said, and in Marion County
there is some evidence to suggest they may
have as much as a 50 percent higher rate of
miscarriages. This was the unscientific
conclusion of health workers at Salud Medical
Center in Woodburn after the clinic began to
notice a rash of miscarriages among
farmworker women about 12 years ago,
Ramirez said. Salud did not respond to a
request for verification.
Farmworker exposure to pesticides happens
in the field, but also when chemicals come into
contact with living-area surfaces from spray
drift or are tracked into the home on workers’
clothing and shoes, according to the EPA
See FARMWORKERS, page 5