Dow Chemical - Garlon

by Sara O'Donnell

On the way to the Mendocino County Apple Fair I stopped in the Comptche Store. Three truckloads of Latino men had just driven up and entered the store ahead of me. As I stood next to them I became overwhelmed by the smell of chemicals and left the store, as did another woman in the store at the same time. As I went outside I saw the big vat, which had held the chemicals, on the back of one truck. In the back of another truck was a 4-wheeler with a smaller sprayer rig attached to the seat. At that point I walked up close to the truck to see exactly what compound it was they had been spraying. I saw the box from Dow Chemical with

Garlon printed on it. I didn't get close enough to read the directions but I bet there weren't too many written in Spanish, the only language I heard these men speak. I turned and looked at the men as they exited the store, I studied their faces and felt a great sadness for them. Some were young, in the prime of their lives. Some were probably in their 40's, with wives and children at home. These same wives will pick up their husband's Garlon-soaked clothes to wash them, their children will no doubt hug their Papa in these clothes full of Garlon, when he arrives home. As I looked at these men, memories came flooding over me: memories of growing up in a small town in the middle of the cotton fields, smelling (and no doubt drinking from our town water supply) insecticides, herbicides, pesticides, and hearing the constant drone of the crop duster spraying right up to the edge of town; memories of wanting to make some extra money as a teenager and taking a job in those fields, doing everything from picking cotton and tomatoes to flagging for the crop dusters who were spraying the poisons. I was sprayed with DDT, Malathion and many other toxic chemicals I no longer remember the names of. But you see we were very uninformed, there were not masks or white paper suits to wear. Only a kerchief to try to keep it off our hair. We were happy to have a job in an area where there were no department stores to work in, no restaurants or B&Bs to hire inexperienced teenage girls.

We were as uninformed as I am sure these men who are in the woods spraying Garlon are today. And that angers me, because you see I have even more memories. I have memories of my mother dying of cancer, having lived her whole life in that small agricultural town. I have memories of my brother dying of cancer at the age of 40. I have memories of my father dying of cancer, after living most of his life in that same town. And I have memories of myself being diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago. But I have not died, I am still here with 3 beautiful sons who live with us in Comptche. So when I saw these men soaked with chemicals I knew I had to write this letter. For my sons, and for your sons and daughters, for Sara Fowler and NAH!. For those Latino men and their families at home. There is no excuse for putting toxic chemicals on our earth.

This is no way to treat our earth and it most certainly is no way to treat our fellow man.

(Sara O'Donnell is the director the Mendocino Resource Center, 476 Main St., P.O. Box 50, Mendocino, CA 95460.)

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Last Update: 10/6/96