Pesticide Buffer Zones

Oregon Toxics Alliance is working with other Oregon environmental and human health groups to reduce the risk of exposure to pesticide drift from commercial aerial and airblast spraying. We are proposing a one mile protective no-spray zone around schools and daycare centers to reduce exposures to pesticide drift.

Why is Pesticide Drift a Problem?

Exposure to pesticide drift can occur through contact with droplets, dusts, volatilized vapor-phase pesticides, surface waters, and pesticide-contaminated soil particles. New analyses of pesticide drift reveals that several widely used pesticides are regularly found far from their application sites at concentrations that significantly exceed acute and chronic exposure levels deemed “safe” by regulatory agencies. Virtually everywhere pesticides are used, they drift away from their intended target and can persist for days and even months in the environment.

Models for pesticide use reform can be found in California and seven other states who have enacted restrictions on pesticide applications that create buffer zones ranging from 500 feet to 2 ½ miles in areas neighboring a school.

What is OTA Doing?

Senate Bill 20 would have created a buffer free zone around Oregon's schools. The bill stalled in congress, but out of those efforts came the Senate Work Group on Health and Pesticides. The Work Group's primary focus is children and schools.