Dear John,

In 2019, a helicopter flew over eight-year-old Honor La Barge’s house in Silverton, Oregon, and sprayed their property with chlorpyrifos, a dangerous insecticide meant for the neighbor’s Christmas tree farm. That night, Honor developed a fever, which ended up lasting over a month. He was later diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a type of cancer with a direct association with chlorpyrifos exposure in children. 

No one should have to go through that. And stories like Honor’s are, tragically, not uncommon. Chlorpyrifos has harmed the health of countless people. It’s time to phase out this dangerous insecticide and protect Oregon’s families. Please take action today!

The good news is that the Oregon Department of Agriculture is currently considering new limitations on chlorpyrifos. The bad news is that these limitations aren’t strong enough. Oregon needs to not just limit chlorpyrifos, but to completely phase it out. Please send an email today, and ask the Oregon Department of Agriculture to phase out chlorpyrifos in Oregon. 

Chlorpyrifos is incredibly damaging to those who live near farms, and even more so to farmworkers who are forced to breathe in this harmful pesticide. Heavy exposure to chlorpyrifos puts Oregon’s farmworkers—and their families—at risk for cancer and neurological damage. And all of us are at risk whenever we shop at the grocery store: beans, vegetables, fruit, and other common crops have been shown to be contaminated with chlorpyrifos.

Chlorpyrifos is dangerous for human health, and for the entire ecosystem: it builds up in our soil and waterways, and is toxic to birds, fish, and other wildlife. That’s why other states like Hawaii, California, New York, and Maryland have already banned or severely restricted chlorpyrifos, and that’s why Oregon needs to be next. Please send an email to the Oregon Department of Agriculture today, before the comment period closes on October 22nd!

Thank you,

Julia DeGraw
Coalition Director, OLCV

PS: Watch Honor’s full story from Beyond Toxics here.