Berry Growers Violating Prop. 65, Groups Say

Labor and environmental groups on Wednesday accused California strawberry growers of not warning farm workers about the use of Captan, a fungicide believed to cause cancer.

The coalition, led by the United Farm Workers union, said at a San Francisco news conference that they planned to ask federal authorities to lengthen--from one to four days--the time farm workers must keep out of the fields after Captan is used.

In addition, coalition members said they will ask California and Santa Cruz County authorities to take action and, if those officials don’t intervene, they threatened to file suit themselves.

The groups, which include Earth Island Institute, claimed growers are violating Proposition 65, the state law requiring businesses to warn users if they are exposed to any one of more than 500 chemicals, including Captan.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the UFW, said the use of Captan has risen sevenfold in the last six years. But growers, she contends, are not warning farm workers that they handle Captan.

“Workers are going into the field without knowing they will be absorbing high levels of a chemical that causes cancer,” said Huerta, whose union is trying to organize California’s 20,000 strawberry pickers.

But Gary Caloroso, spokesman for the grower-backed Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance, said Proposition 65 is being properly enforced. He claimed that only two strawberry industry workers suffered injuries last year related to the use of Captan.

Violations allegedly occurred at Gargiulo Inc., which plants, picks, packs and processes berries, and at farms allied with Driscoll, a packer and marketer of the fruit. The companies operate in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

Driscoll did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment, but Gargiulo rebutted the farm workers’ allegations, saying the company’s standards exceeded the law.

“The facts are that the health and safety of all Gargiulo workers has always been one of our highest priorities and a key to our success as a business,” the company said in a statement.