Pesticides Pose Significant Risk For Pregnant Farmworkers On Central Coast

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, July 16, 2025…

• Pregnancy should be a time of hope and care. But for many farmworkers in California’s Pajaro Valley, it’s a time of dangerous exposure to toxic pesticides. A new investigation by Santa Cruz Local reveals how people working in the fields are being put at serious risk. 
• Half of the 4,000 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles last month are being released from duty. 
• The California Office of the State Fire Marshal has suspended the pyrotechnic licenses of two men connected to a deadly explosion in Yolo County earlier this month.

How Pesticides Endanger Pregnant Farmworkers In Pajaro Valley

Santa Cruz County’s $1.5 billion agriculture industry relies on more than 1 million pounds of pesticides annually to help boost crop yields. Farmworkers, who apply pesticides and pick produce, carry the heaviest health risks from pesticide exposure — and workers who are pregnant can expose their children to a lifetime of health problems.

A new investigation by Santa Cruz Local looked at the impacts. Ernestina Solorio is a farmworker, but she’s also an advocate and has been very outspoken in her community in Watsonville. She has four children. She didn’t need to work when she was pregnant with her two oldest. With her younger two children, she did and she worked in the fields while pregnant, exposing her children to pesticides. They both have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as well as some mental health challenges and learning difficulties that have really affected them and have affected Ernestina and her family.

She now speaks out in favor of transitioning to organic as a way to protect farmworkers and residents. A slew of health harms to children have been linked with pesticide exposure during pregnancy, including childhood brain cancer and leukemia, lower cognition, premature birth, and symptoms and diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder. These studies indicate correlation, but don’t prove pesticides cause these health harms.

Half The National Guard Troops Sent To LA Will Be Released

The Pentagon said Tuesday it is ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles, accounting for nearly half of the soldiers sent to the city to deal with protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines have been in the city since early June. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the 60-day deployment to end suddenly, nor was it immediately clear how long the rest of the troops would stay in the region.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass applauded the move. “This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong. We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court — all of this led to today’s retreat,” she said in a statement, adding that “We will not stop making our voices heard until this ends, not just here in LA, but throughout our country.”

State Officials Pull Licenses Following Esparto Explosion

The California Office of the State Fire Marshal has suspended the pyrotechnic license of two men connected to a deadly explosion in Yolo County this month.

The suspended licenses belong to Kenneth Chee of Devastating Pyrotechnics and Craig Cutright of Black Star Fireworks. Both were identified as having operated at the facility in Esparto.

Seven people were killed at the fireworks facility on July 1. Cal Fire says the suspensions are part of its ongoing investigation into what caused the explosion.