by Emily Walsh, Director of Community Outreach & Mesothelioma Cancer Expert
Agricultural workers face numerous airborne threats every day. Air pollutant emissions, soil fumigants, pesticides, mold, asbestos, and dust are a few of the potential lung health hazards that an agricultural worker can come into contact through work.
Potential health risks of wildfire smoke may be magnified due to pesticide application across California’s vast agricultural land and the use of fire retardants to fight fires.
WCAHS investigator Dr. Chris Simmons is helping Chico based almond grower Rory Crowley improve his orchard's health with biosolarization, an alternative to toxic soil fumigation.
California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV) offers a unique opportunity to study how exposure to particulate matter emissions from targeted agricultural practices and activities affect farmworker health.
Biosolarization simply means harvesting the power of biology (bio) plus the sun (sol) to kill pests. Add plastic and compost, and you are ready to roll.
WCAHS welcomes new investigator Dr. Christopher Simmons to the research team. Simmons, an Assistant Professor in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, will be conducting a study on biosolarization as an alternative technology to soil fumigation. Soil fumigants are used to kill nematodes, weeds, bacteria, fungi, and insects that damage crops. Here, he talks about his research.
WCAHS Member and Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Science, and his lab are developing a portable pesticide test that can be run on location to quickly and cost effectively detect if agricultural or landscape workers have been exposed to pesticides.