As a little girl, I remember waking up early so my sister, mother, and I could all get ready to leave the house. She would drop us off at my grandma's house and then go to work. She worked in the fields with my grandpa. He would help my mother finish cutting the weeds from the rows. When she would get home, she had to go straight to the shower before she could be close to me and my sister. I was sad about that because I wanted to hug her as soon as I saw her but I couldn't. My grandpa to this year stopped working in the fields. Thankfully the chemicals didn't get to him. The harsh chemicals are severe, they have killed people. The chemicals don't only harm farm workers, but they could harm the ones around them. Pesticides is the chemical used. Pesticides have become a major input in agriculture over the last decades. Despite all efforts, toxic pesticides might be unsafe, especially in poverty (NCBI). 

A Latina farm worker, Araceli Ruiz, said these pesticides have affected her family. She couldn't stop working, she had to do it to provide for her family. Her now 14-year-old son has experienced physical development delays and suffers from asthma and various digestive disorders. Doctors confirm there is a result of pesticide exposure in utero (NRDC). 

Johnnie Rodriguez, a five-year-old had died from a painful two-year battle against cancer. It is said that his parents could have possibly exposed him to agricultural chemicals when Elia his mother was eight months pregnant. Juan and Elia, his parents, were grape workers exposed to pesticides and other agricultural chemicals. (United Farm Workers).  This is an example of how pesticide exposure harms everyone, especially those who work with the chemicals all day in the hot sun. 

Minors work as fieldworkers, if they are at least 12 years old, they may be employed outside of school hours with parental or guardian consent. Young and older farmworkers face working in and with dangerous weather, pesticides, and equipment. 

It never works when farm workers have tried to speak up about the injustices they face. They get discriminated against as well as violated. All farm workers want is an opportunity for a better life. They do so much for their families that non-farmworkers wouldn't know about. Most but not all farm workers live in poverty and bad housing conditions. When farm workers want fair treatment, they get violently suppressed. (The Farmworkers’ Movement) . 

It is said that to this day there is slavery, modern slavery. The United States formally abolished slavery through the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, but nearly 150 years later, workers are still enslaved. Slavery remains in the business. Until there is an agricultural industry and a government with policies that encourage human rights over profits, we must continue the fight against slavery that began 400 years ago until slavery itself is truly abolished. (Modern-Day Slavery). 

Works Cited

“Case Fatality as an Indicator for the Human Toxicity of Pesticides—A Systematic Scoping Review on the Availability and Variability of Severity Indicators of Pesticide Poisoning.” NCBI, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8394312/. Accessed 30 May 2024.

“The Farmworkers' Movement.” Equal Justice Initiative, eji.org/news/history-racial-injustice-farmworkers-movement/. Accessed 30 May 2024.

“Latina Farmworkers Speak Out about the Hazards of Life in California's Fields.” NRDC, 4 October 2021, nrdc.org/stories/latina-farmworkers-speak-out-about-hazards-life-californias-fields. Accessed 30 May 2024.

“Modern-Day Slavery - NFWM.” National Farm Worker Ministry, nfwm.org/farm-workers/farm-worker-issues/modern-day-slavery/. Accessed 30 May 2024.

United Farm Workers. Wikipedia, 1989, ufw.org/research/history/cesar-chavezs-first-major-address-36-day-1988-fast-pesticide-poisoning-farm-workers/. Accessed 3 June 2024.