Department of Pesticide Regulation 

Public Participation, Education, and Outreach 

1 

Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Policy 

Strategic Plan: The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is committed to working with 

other government agencies, communities, advocacy groups, regulated industries, and other 

interested parties to ensure environmental justice (EJ). To accomplish this, DPR has focused on 

incorporating EJ in its programs and activities. For example, in 2008, DPR revised its 

departmental Strategic Plan and among its five goals is, “Ensure environmental justice—All 

Californians, regardless of race, age, culture, income, or geographic location, are protected from 

adverse environmental and health effects of pesticides.” Among other initiatives to integrate EJ 

principles into its core programs, DPR has taken steps to ensure public participation; to 

strengthen field enforcement; to make its decisionmaking more transparent and understandable; 

and to reduce risk and conduct outreach to workers and others that may be impacted by pesticide 

use. 

Communication Tools and Publications 

Community Guide to Recognizing and Reporting Pesticide Problems (English/Spanish) 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dept/comguide/index/htm> 

Decisions Pending and Opportunities for Public Participation

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dept/quicklinks/com_opts.htm> 

DPR EJ Web site link (provides access to bilingual PDF documents) 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/envjust/index.htm> 

Consumer Fact Sheets (English/Spanish) 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dept/factshts/factmenu.htm> 

Pesticide Safety Information Series (PSIS) (English, Spanish, Punjabi): Leaflets explaining 

regulations and other worker safety information. 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/psisenglish.htm> 

Pesticide Safety Comic Books (Spanish) produced by Migrant Clinicians Network and available 

on DPR’s Web site. 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/license/spanish/comic_proteccion_de_su_salud.pdf> 

Emergency cards for fieldworkers in case of pesticide exposure: Wallet-sized cards 

developed for agricultural fieldworkers with information on who to contact if they become ill or 

injured from pesticide exposure. 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pressrls/spanish/emergency_cards_sp.pdf> 
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Toll Free Pest Line: Outreach wallet cards distributed to workers containing information for 

contacting the county agricultural commissioner (CAC), 1-877-378-5463 (1-87-PestLine and 

Poison Control, 1-800-222-1222). These toll free lines are in wide distribution and included on 

fact sheets, community guides, and DPR’s Web site. 

“Regulating Pesticides: The California Story”: Information on pesticide laws and regulations, 

an explanation of regulatory and registration processes, a description of local and state 

enforcement activities, and details on DPR initiatives to protect people and the environment. 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pressrls/dprguide.htm> 

Environmental Justice Listserve: DPR set up an e-mail listserve focusing on EJ and routinely 

sends out announcements about Web postings of interest, public meetings, regulatory 

developments and activities of interest to EJ stakeholders. 

<http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dept/listserv/listdesc.htm> 

Outreach Activities 

Worker Health and Safety Branch: In 2008, DPR expanded worker outreach by assigning a 

full-time, bilingual staff member to liaison with worker advocates, health professionals, and 

community workers. This outreach specialist works with other DPR staff to provide information 

on pesticide safety and the rights of employees, and files confidential complaints about pesticide 

exposure. Each year, DPR staff take part in community meetings, health conferences, and other 

events to educate and promote pesticide safety for workers and their families. Staff also promote 

pesticide safety in guest appearances on Spanish-language media outlets in the Central Valley. 

From 2008-2010, staff conducted outreach to workers and families at 64 events; in 2011, staff 

conducted outreach at 58 events. 

Community Guide to Recognizing and Reporting, Pesticide Problems: Published in both 

English and Spanish, this 34-page guide offers plain language explanations that focus on 

practical solutions for real-world situations. The guide has become a popular reference for public 

health agencies, emergency responders, community advocates, industry, local government 

officials, and individuals with pesticide questions or complaints. Topics include step-by-step 

instructions on what to do in a pesticide emergency, a discussion of pesticide drift and odor, and 

a checklist to use when reporting a pesticide incident. The first printing of 5,000 English copies 

ran out quickly. DPR printed several thousand more copies early in 2009, including a Spanishlanguage version targeted for distribution at ethnic venues. DPR posted the guide online and sent 

it to more than 900 community health centers, county health departments, and to every public 

library in the state. It has also been sent to 97 school districts in five counties with high fumigant 

use and with significant numbers of Latino school children. California Poison Control Centers 
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use it for staff training. DPR outreach specialists distribute the guide and other safety 

information at health and community fairs in Latino communities (see below). 

Other activities: 

• Urban and rural outreach to promotores and workers that includes training, handouts, public 

service announcements, and education encouraging reporting illnesses. 

• Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program (PISP). DPR and the CACs investigate all reported 

pesticide-related illnesses and incidents. The California Poison Control System (CPCS) 

remains a major source of case identification. 

• DPR distributes magnets with CPCS phone numbers and brochures in English and Spanish 

for the National Pesticide Information Center. 

• California Pesticide Illness Query program (CalPIQ) allows Web users to develop reports to 

their own specifications on pesticide illnesses reported, beginning in 1992. 

• DPR revises and translates employee safety handouts (plain language, 

Spanish/English/Punjabi). 

• Comic Books: Aunque Cerca Sano (Comic book for families living near the field); LO QUE 

BIEN EMPIEZA...BIEN ACABA (Pesticide Prevention During Pregnancy); and Protección de 

su salud (farmworker training manual). 

• In 2004, DPR trained more than 70 trainers in two classes in Mexicali and Ensenada in order 

to target daily workers that come across the border. DPR also educated farmworkers, 

pesticide handlers, and their families about the risks of pesticides. 

• Watsonville Farmworker Focus Group: In 2001, DPR conducted a focus group in 

Watsonville to address communication and outreach between farmers and the farmworker 

community. 

• Safety Videos: In 2003, DPR helped the Fresno CAC’s office produce a series of worker 

safety videos in English, Spanish, and Hmong. 

• Worker Safety Brochures: A 2004 survey by DPR and CACs found that more than 10,000 

California farmworkers speak Punjabi, a language of India. As a result, worker safety leaflets 

were translated into Punjabi and distributed to the community and are available online. 

• Mixtec Training Video: A training video for Mixtecs was produced by the Fresno CAC 

with a $50,000 federal grant secured by DPR. Tens of thousands of Mixtecs work in Central 

Valley fields. The Mixtec videos were aired on a Fresno TV station in 2004 with a live, 

question-and-answer session. 

Public Participation 

DPR has worked to meet EJ concerns identified by stakeholders. For example, in a series of 

“listening sessions” sponsored by DPR in 2004, community members brought several EJ issues 

to DPR’s attention. Community members asked DPR to improve public participation, outreach, 
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field enforcement, and recognition and reduction of pesticide-related illnesses. They also 

advocated reinstatement of the grants project and doing more to encourage the adoption of leasttoxic pest management strategies, particularly in public housing and government buildings. (The 

Alliance program was restored in 2007). In 2005, DPR formed a work group of stakeholders 

from EJ organizations, regulated industries, and other interested parties to develop advisory 

recommendations to guide the department’s development of an EJ implementation plan. The 

work group had 10 facilitated meetings between July 2006 and April 2007. With the assistance 

of the consulting firm that managed and facilitated the meetings, the work group presented a 

series of recommendations to DPR. However, resource constraints postponed further 

development of DPR’s formal EJ plan. 

Nonetheless, DPR has moved to address concerns raised in the listening sessions and by the EJ 

work group. For example, DPR had been criticized for failing to provide information on how to 

recognize and report pesticide problems to communities affected by pesticide use. To help 

address this issue, in late 2006, DPR launched an automated, toll-free line that provides CAC 

phone numbers and offers to transfer the caller to the appropriate CAC office. The automated 

service, in English and Spanish, is designed to encourage timely filing of pesticide complaints, a 

key to successful investigation. 

Regulatory Hearings/Rulemaking: DPR routinely schedules regulatory hearings outside the 

Sacramento area at times and places convenient to local residents, with simultaneous translation 

into Spanish. Key rulemaking documents are routinely translated into Spanish. To further 

increase transparency in decisionmaking, in 2007, DPR required all program managers and 

supervisors to attend five days of training on how to ensure more public involvement in the 

decisions they make on policies and activities. DPR staff also participated in the Border 2012 

project, a state and federal initiative to help Mexican agencies set up and manage pesticide safety 

programs. For example, DPR staff help train Mexican employers on the safe use of pesticides. 

DPR worked with farm labor representatives, industry, and others to draft rules that focus on 

keeping workers better informed when pesticides are used in their vicinity. 

Funding Projects to Promote EJ 

In addition to incorporating EJ into its everyday planning and operations, DPR has allocated the 

following funds for EJ programs: 

• 2012-2013 Pest Management Alliance grant for $400,000. Projects focus on adoption and 

implementation of agricultural or urban integrated pest management practices that reduce 

risks to human health and the environment. DPR has awarded approximately $6 million in 

Alliance Grants to more than 60 projects since 1998. 
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• 2005-2006 California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) contract $250,000 to 

fund EJ grants. 

• 2005-2008 Parlier Pilot Project, $1.9 million. Focused on monitoring air concentrations of 

21-27 pesticides to evaluate ambient air exposure to pesticides and identify opportunities to 

reduce environmental health risks, particularly with children. Included local advisory group 

input. 

• Spray Safe (Kern County, $50,000), a grower-sponsored effort aimed at reducing drift 

incidents by strengthening farmer-to-farmer communication when pesticides are scheduled 

for application. 

• DPR funded a pilot effort in Kern County designed to improve communication and 

protection to workers and others from pesticide drift. Set up in 2007 in southeast Kern 

County, the system sends an e-mail to every neighboring grower regarding proposed 

applications of restricted materials. The e-mail includes the name of the grower, the location, 

the name of the restricted material to be applied, and the date of the proposed application. 

The e-mail also contains a map of the proposed application site along with grower contact 

information in case a neighboring grower needs to confer with the grower of the proposed 

application. 

Participation in Major Projects 

Nonfumigant Production Strawberry Production Work Group: In April of 2012, DPR 

announced the formation of a diverse work group including scientists, industry representatives 

and environmental advocates, and other experts to develop a five-year action plan to accelerate 

the development of management tools and practices to control soil-borne pests in strawberry 

field without fumigants. DPR recognizes that fumigants pose a higher risk to the public than 

other pesticides and that, particularly in light of the increasing urban-rural interface, tougher 

restrictions are becoming increasingly necessary. This project is meant to instigate new methods 

of production that mitigate the risks in other ways. 

Border 2012 Project: Both California and Baja California, Mexico are major agricultural states. 

There are an estimated 30,000 farmworkers in Imperial County and 20,000 in Baja California. In 

both sides, millions of pounds of pesticides are used every year to support agricultural 

productions, placing farmworkers at high risk of exposure. Pesticide illness surveillance provides 

essential information for appropriate public health, investigative, and regulatory actions 

following pesticide exposure, to promote protective measures for the community at risk, and to 

help identify problem pesticides, among other uses. In both California and Baja California, 

pesticides illnesses among farmworkers are severely underreported. For pesticide illness 

surveillance to be effective, it is essential that farmworkers recognize pesticide exposures and 

illness, access health care, and report the exposures to their employers and health care providers. 

The California Department of Public Health, through DPR, the Office of Binational Border 
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Health, and the Instituto de Salud del Estado de Baja California, with funding from the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, implemented the Pesticide Illness Surveillance and 

Exposure Prevention Project with the goal of enhancing pesticide illness reporting in the 

Imperial County/Mexicali border region. Key federal, state, and local agencies and academic 

institutions also participated in this project as members of the border pesticide working group. 

The Pesticide Outreach and Education Project, where Ms. Martha Sanchez, Dr. Nino Yanga, and 

Mr. George Farnsworth were involved, was funded by the Pan American Health Organizations to 

complement and enhance the ongoing California-Baja California Integrated Pesticide Illness 

Surveillance and Exposure Prevention Project. 

The overall goals of the Pesticide Outreach and Education Project were: (1) to provide 

farmworkers in Imperial County and Mexicali with information on preventing and recognizing 

pesticide related exposures and illness, how to report such events, and access to health care 

options; and (2) to facilitate health care referral and case reporting to appropriate agencies. Both 

goals were met with the development of a flyer and poster, pocket card, and public service 

announcement notifying farmworkers on improving working conditions by reporting pesticide 

illness and who to contact just in case of pesticide exposure. 

Kettleman City Project: In 2010, Cal/EPA and the State Department of Public Health (DPH) 

conducted environmental monitoring as part of an investigation of an apparent increase in the 

number of infants born with birth defects after 2006 in Kettleman City, a San Joaquin Valley 

community. Scientists from each of Cal/EPA’s board and departments (including DPR) 

participated in the project, assessing potential contaminants and testing for chemicals that could 

cause birth defects and other adverse health effects. Experts from various scientific disciplines 

worked collaboratively to examine a wide range of medical, environmental, and other factors 

that might reasonably be associated with the reported birth defects. DPR compiled information 

for 19 pesticides used within five miles of Kettleman City between late 2006 and 2009. DPR 

then estimated airborne pesticide levels in the community during that period. In the summer of 

2010, DPR also tested air for 27 pesticides, including four that could cause birth defects. The 

results showed that it is very unlikely pesticides caused the birth defects. Tests of agricultural 

soil found no evidence of pesticide levels that pose a health risk concern. Cal/EPA’s 

investigation found levels of environmental pollutants in the air, water, and soil of Kettleman 

City comparable to those found in other San Joaquin Valley communities. The agency’s 

comprehensive investigation did not find a specific cause or environmental exposure among the 

mothers that would explain the increase in the number of children born with birth defects in 

Kettleman City. 

Physician Training: In cooperation with Cal/EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard 

Assessment (OEHHA), DPR worked with community clinics and medical organizations to 

conduct physician training on recognition of pesticide-related illnesses. In 2008, DPR 
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collaborated with OEHHA to conduct training for all regional poison control centers in 

California on reporting of pesticide illness and injury when they receive those reports from 

physicians or medical staff. In 2011, DPR funded a project to train Latino community members 

who serve as liaisons between their community and health and social service organizations on 

how to recognize symptoms of pesticide exposure, the importance of reporting suspected 

exposure, and where to refer exposed persons to obtain advice, and or medical care. 

Breaking Barriers: DPR’s Worker Health and Safety Branch, in conjunction with the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, provides one-day training sessions in various 

locations throughout California to assist non Spanish-speaking inspectors who interview non 

English-speaking field workers and applicators. Ms. Martha Sánchez has facilitated the Breaking 

Barriers trainings since it started back in 2009. The course is targeted towards CAC inspectors 

currently conducting fieldworker safety inspections and agricultural pesticide monitoring 

inspections (such as pesticide use, field fumigation, and commodity fumigation). 

Public Participation in Risk Assessment: DPR has taken steps to ensure public participation in 

regulatory processes, in particular, potentially affected parties that might otherwise be 

overlooked or excluded. In 2006, DPR opened the process of selecting pesticides for risk 

assessment to public comment and posted more than two dozen completed risk assessments 

online. DPR is also making risk management more transparent and open to public comment. 

(Risk management is how DPR decides whether an assessed risk presents a public health concern 

and, if so, what can be done to reduce the risk.) For example, in 2007, DPR held two public 

workshops in Tulare to obtain feedback on proposed controls for MITC-generating pesticides. 

These workshops were held in English and Spanish. 

Parlier Project: In 2002, Cal/EPA developed its Environmental Justice Action Plan which 

tasked the boards, departments, and offices to conduct pilot projects that “focus on 

environmental risk factors (including emissions/discharge, exposure, and health risk) that impact 

children’s health.” Because rural, agricultural communities may have higher concentrations of 

pesticides in ambient air compared with their urban counterparts, Cal/EPA asked DPR to 

postpone its planned air monitoring network and instead conduct focused air monitoring for one 

year in a Central Valley farming community. DPR’s goal was to find out what amounts of 

pesticides, if any, were in the air of a rural community. DPR also wanted to evaluate people’s 

exposure to these pesticides and identify opportunities to reduce health risk, particularly to 

children. DPR sought extensive public comment on project priorities and in selecting a 

community for monitoring. A key element was inclusion of local advisory groups (LAGs) to 

provide recommendations and input on how each project should be carried out. Although not a 

decisionmaking group, the 18-member Parlier LAG formed by DPR had a significant impact on 

how DPR conducted the project. The LAG helped select pesticides to monitor, sampling sites, 

and monitoring frequency. The LAG approved delaying the start of monitoring until January 
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2006 so DPR could spread the costs of the project over two fiscal years, allowing monitoring to 

be done more often and at more sites. Cal/EPA also encouraged use of the Internet to widen 

opportunities for public participation. DPR posted LAG meeting agendas and minutes, 

preliminary project results, and the final project report on its Web site. 

Lompoc Air Contaminant Project: In 1993, DPR began looking into health concerns of 

residents in the Santa Barbara County community of Lompoc and the surrounding valley 

(population roughly 42,000). Residents were concerned that pesticide applications in the 

vegetable- and flower-growing region were causing health problems. Working with the CAC, 

DPR staff held several community meetings to discuss health symptoms, pesticide exposure, 

exposure to dust and pollen, effectiveness of regulatory controls in protecting citizens from 

pesticide exposure, quantities of pesticides used in the area, and available alternatives to 

pesticides. To allay community concerns, the CAC placed several restrictions on pesticide 

applications in the area, including buffer zones around schools and homes. In 1995, DPR staff 

completed a report on pest management practices in the Lompoc Valley with an emphasis on 

crops grown, their associated pests, and pest control practices; including use of pesticides 

and alternative pest control methods. In 1997, DPR formed the Lompoc Interagency Work 

Group (LIWG) to better coordinate efforts to find out if Lompoc residents suffered a 

disproportionate rate of illness and if so, to discover the cause. The LIWG included community 

representatives and scientific staff from federal, state, and county agencies. The LIWG formed 

several committees to develop recommendations addressing health concerns, to conduct a 

pesticide air monitoring strategy, and to consider potential exposures from other environmental 

factors found in the area, such as crystalline silica, radon, pollen, and mold. At DPR’s request, 

OEHHA evaluated illnesses in the Lompoc area. OEHHA examined 1991 through 1994 hospital 

discharges, birth defect rates, and cancer incidence. OEHHA reported in 1998 that respiratory 

illnesses, in particular asthma and bronchitis, appeared to be elevated in Lompoc with respect to 

comparison areas. However, a later analysis that included data through 1997 found few 

significant differences in illness rates between the Lompoc area and similar communities.