Ventura County farmers farm food, the Environmental Working Group farms clicks.
Unfortunately, the Ventura County Star has elevated misinformation about the important role of pesticide regulation in Ventura County and the extraordinary efforts undertaken by the County Ag Commissioner, farmers, and farmworkers to keep our community safe.
As The Star’s Feb. 6 article noted, “Ventura County growers applied more than 32 million pounds of pesticides to fields over six years” yet it failed to note that most of the mass applied is non-toxic.
The cited applications include horticultural oils, minerals, and organic pesticides which make up the bulk of the mass and are considered non-toxic to humans. No wonder EWG had to span six years of data to inflate rates for clicks.