RANKINGS AND NUMBERS OF KERN,
TULARE, AND FRESNO COUNTIES, AMONG
ALL COUNTIES IN TOTAL POISONINGS
(AGRICULTURE RELATED)

APPENDIX !

California Occupational Health Program

4. Selected Acute and Delayed Health Effects Not due to Cholinesterase Inhibition

Chairman MILLER. Well, thank you very much. Going back to the original panel's notion of exposures of children to sort of where they live, where they play, and for older children where they might work. Mr. Hill, I guess, to what extent-it would seem to me when you talk of children living in the fields, and you talk of families having to live in orchards, or living in close proximity to fields that are being sprayed, the children that come to your Head Start Center, the migrant children and others. They live in an environment where their exposures are much more consistent, I guess, over time, than children in other settings we might expect.

And you mentioned, do you see the kinds of chemical burns and rashes on children in your clinic that Mr. Hill has talked about, Dr. Sandoval?

Dr. SANDOVAL. I have heard of and seen more exposure from secondary exposure. When the chemical is brought home like on the work clothes of parents.

Then I have heard of children eating the fruit, which really worries me, when they are in the field because they do not have a child care center available.

Many families will not take in their children with just skin problems, because they are concerned about the cost. And that is part of the reason we may not see them, unless they are more severe. Chairman MILLER. Mr. Cuellar, what is the Earlimart Cancer Task Force?

Mr. CUELLAR. Right now, you mean at this stage now?
Chairman MILLER. Yes, you are doing that.

STATEMENT OF CIRO CUELLAR, MEMBER OF EARLIMART
CANCER TASK FORCE, EARLIMART, CA

Mr. CUELLAR. Well, right now what we are trying to do is to get the State to see if we can get some funding to put a screening clinic. They went ahead and applied the questionnaire, so they would do a survey, a questionnaire direct to the families. But what we wanted was to get the State to put a screening clinic like they did in McFarland.

The one in McFarland, they did do no good, because they spent $136,000. And even though they were in the final stage of the report, we had young children who were like those, a month later, with a tumor in the stomach.

So what we are saying is that, even though the kind of a test that they did, they did not do an efficient testing of the children. And the kid went to the clinic, and they misdiagnosed. He had a tumor about the size of a pinball, you know, a small pinball.

But anyway, what we are asking right now is, I kind of, I do not know if you have a copy of the factors I will stress at this hearing. Family needs is identification of victims on an immediate basis; actively assisting enough with these in identifying the financial and social services. That is what we would like to see.

And this family is going through a lot of hardship because, as you understand, like Mr. Ramirez, there is a family here, Caldillo right now, he is in a real financial bind right now. That he cannot cover his hospital cost.

And Medicare does not want to cover a lot of the medicines that these kids are required to take. So not only they are having that kind of problem, but when you have that they have to drop out of the job to take care of the kids, children, it is real hard on them. And we try to get the County to kind of-we were having parents from Tulare County going into Kern County to get Medicare over there, because the County was not doing the job in assisting these families.

So that is one of the things that we are looking at and would like to see.

Community needs include the importance of educating the community for free cancer screening service, the importance of identifying causes of cancer. Demand an evaluation of occupation in cancer studies; identify the relative risk index for occupation of agriculture; and create a grass roots agency that would serve as a task force of committees and affiliated medical facilities, such as the United Health Services for areas.

[Prepared statement of Ciro Cuellar follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CIRO CUELLAR, Member of Earlimart CanCER TASK FORCE, EARLIMART, CA

My name is Ciro Cuellar.

I am currently a member of the Earlimart Cancer Task Force. The reason for my membership is because I would like to see the families whose children who are stricken with the cancer, be assisted for their needs. The Earlimart Cancer Task Force was formed by the Earlimart Town Council Task Force.

In the summer of 1984, Henry Rodriquez and I, both members of the Mexican American Political Association at that time, assisted the McFarland residents bringing their attention of the unknown cancer cluster. In June of 1984, myself, along with Henry Rodriquez requested a hearing which was conducted in the McFarland area, by Senator Art Torres, requesting that the county conduct an investigation into the childhood cancer cluster. During such time, the cancer out-break continued among children and adults alike. Residents continued to be diagnosed with brain tumors and other health problems.

In September of 1989, a childhood cancer cluster was discovered in Earlimart. Six children have been diagnosed with cancer. One child died of complications related to leukemia.

At the request of the Earlimart Cancer Task Force, the state agreed to translate a detailed 50-page questionnaire into spanish and given copies to the families in advance, so they would be able to prepare themselves to answer questions asked by the investigators.

Chairman MILLER. Mr. Sandoval, how common is it for pregnant women to continue to work in the fields late into their pregnancy? In your practice, and maybe among the parents in the Head Start Program, if you have particular knowledge of that.

Dr. SANDOVAL. I see quite a few that have to do that. And they would prefer not to. Some stop working because it is just physically too demanding.

For example, with the-

Chairman MILLER. They would stop working, at what period, though?

Dr. SANDOVAL. Well, when they start feeling uncomfortable is when a lot of them stop. We have helped some stop earlier and try to get disability benefits earlier than they would have, because the work is physically demanding.

For example, hoeing puts a lot of strain on the back, and on the abdomen, also. There have been some studies that show that that