Resources: Reports, Articles, Links

NEW: “Protecting Health in Your Community: A Guidebook for Organizing for Pesticide Reform”

OTA’s 2010 “Protecting Health in Your Community: A Guidebook for Organizing for Pesticide Reform” focuses on pesticide issues and is tailored toward Oregon residents. It was developed in response to the many inquiries we receive from small communities struggling to find a solution to pollution and poisoning from large-scale pesticide applications (e.g., forestry, agriculture, right-of-way, public property and public housing contracts).

This guidebook is an interactive PDF – you will be able to ‘click and link’ to other credible sources as well as documents or forms that we feel will be helpful to you and your group throughout the organizing process.

Pesticides in Our Schools

Oregon Toxics Alliance's report, WARNING! Hazards to Children: Pesticides in Our Schools, uncovers an on-going pattern of pesticide exposure to school children in classrooms, on playgrounds, on ball fields, and at bus stops. Forty-three cases have been reported in the past ten years. Fourteen cases were serious enough to result in evacuation, require medical attention, and/or result in a citation from the state.
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Dispelling the Field Burning Myth

A common argument against a ban on field burning is that it will result in an increase in pesticide use. Oregon Toxics Alliance's new report. Pesticide Use in Grass Seed Production: Dispelling the Myth, takes an in-depth look at that claim. It finds that grass seed fields are often sprayed with pesticides before and after field burning. The real issue is that field burning actually exacerbates the toxic effects of pesticides, creating toxics such as dioxins, cyandide, and hydrogen chloride. Read More...