Since our investigation of dangerous pesticides used to grow California strawberries, we’ve heard from people who say we’ve ruined the fruit for them. Here are a few reasons not to give up on strawberries quite yet.
Strawberries grown on both conventional and organic farms get their start in nurseries with the help of fumigants, a class of pesticides that have been linked to health problems and the hole in the ozone layer.
When the state’s top pesticide regulators step down, their influence over important public health and environmental issues continues. From overseeing water issues to representing a chemical giant, here’s what several ex-chiefs are doing now.
California keeps detailed data on every commercial pesticide applied across the state. Here are a few of the interesting nuggets we pulled out of our analysis of that information.
California strawberries are grown using some of the riskiest pesticides in agriculture. While the chemicals don't end up on the fruit you eat, they are potentially dangerous for farmworkers, nearby residents and the environment.
Farmers apply more than 100 million pounds of pesticides to crops in California each year. Check out our map to see what pesticides were most commonly applied near you from 2003 through 2012.
This short stop-motion animation explains how clever advertising tactics and certain pesticides helped make the strawberry cheaply and widely available in the U.S.
To map pesticide use in California, we analyzed data from the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, encompassing about 1.5 billion pounds of pesticides applied from 2003 to 2012.
California’s strawberry growers rely on heavy amounts of dangerous pesticides to deliver fruit year-round at an affordable price. But the health and environmental problems that come with those chemicals have threatened the foundation of a $2.6 billion industry.
The worst of America’s toxic abandoned mines get federal Superfund money for cleanup. The rest – and liability for their pollution – are left to states, private organizations and nonprofit conservation groups to clean up.
