“I want to credit Jim Hightower’s cantankerousness, and just by God bullheadedness with raising awareness in this state that people are hurt by pesticides. They are. Just because you can buy something at Lowe’s or Home Depot doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to spray it on your face. I think people get that now because of the work he […]
Pesticides and the Right to Know
August 5th 1982, farmworker Sacharias Ruiz awoke at dawn in Bryan, Texas. He would not live to see the sun set. Mr. Ruiz’s job that day was to spray Dinitro-3, a highly toxic pesticide, on cotton plants in Bryan, Texas. The pesticide canister had a leak, just a small leak, but, nonetheless, a fatal leak. Soon, Mr. Ruiz was too […]
![Pesticides are Hell on Bugs and Not Much Better on People](https://peopleshistoryintexas.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-30-at-4.43.22-PM-1024x577.png)
Pesticides are Hell on Bugs and Not Much Better on People
People’s History in Texas is in the middle of a in-depth project collecting oral history and archives on the Jim Hightower tenure as Commissioner of Texas Department of Agriculture from 1983-1991. In those eight years, an amazing legacy of support for family farmers and sustainable rural agriculture was implemented. That legacy of positive programs is still making its impact on […]