Irene Rodriguez wondered the same thing when her son Gilberto Valadez, a seventh-grader at the school, brought home a fumigation notice last year. It was conducted on a Saturday to reduce exposure to the students, but doubts lingered. We don't know what complications there can be years from now. Complications from long-term exposure remain a question for Ana as well. In her village in the Oaxaca mountains, the men strap plastic tanks onto their backs and trudge into the corn fields, spraying chemical concoctions through a hand pump and wand.
Many people get sick, but no one knows why.
There's no doctor, no clinic.