A pesticide dispenser at the entrance to a farmer's field in the Fraser Valley.
"Our study shows a higher-than-normal ratio of farmworkers die from cancer of the liver, prostrate and lymph glands. The study also shows an increase in leukemia and aplastic anemia among farmworkers and it is reasonable to assume the diseases were caused by pesticides. Our report to the Workers' Compensation Board recommends better equipment and more safety precautions for farmworkers exposed to pesticides - I doubt there will be changes without enforcement by the WCB." - Dr. Eric Young, B.C. Medical Association Environmental Health Committee Chairman, 1983
"While our organization is concerned about pesticide safety, we feel the (B.C. Medical Association's) report findings are overstated and unjustified. The public is overreacting. Educating farmers and workers is the answer, not more regulations" - B.C. Federation of Agriculture president George Aylard, 1982
"A voluntary system of pesticide safety would be like asking you to pay the government what taxes you think you owe." - West Coast Environmental Law Society lawyer Marilyn Kansky, 1983
"Farmworkers work in the one workplace in British Columbia that is regularly and systematically poisoned for the purpose of killing life. Insects, fungi and weeds are the target, but farmworkers are inevitably exposed to the killing agents." - CFU submission to the federal government, September, 1981