We know something about the nature and power of the fumigant pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D). Yet, the State body in charge of regulating 1,3-D, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), has proposed a policy grounded in toxicity assumptions that 1,3-D is 14 times less potent than the official safe harbor level set by OEHHA.
The DPR assumptions are similar, if not identical, to those put forward by 1,3-D’s primary manufacturer, Dow Chemical. The result could be a regulation that allows for even more 1,3-D use than is currently applied, compounding rather than reducing the cancer threat in farmworker communities.