The State - News from Aug. 12, 1988

Representatives from the California table grape industry have questioned the integrity of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers union for making what growers consider “reckless and irresponsible” claims about the safety of five pesticides used on the state’s $190-million table grape crop. John Corkins, president of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, along with growers Aram Kinosian and Dick Ethridge, stated in Visalia that California table grapes and other crops are safe to eat and chemical use on the crops is strictly regulated. “Thirty years of eating table grapes doesn’t seem to have any great effect on me,” said Ethridge. “My workers aren’t dying.” Chavez is entering the 27th day of a fast to protest the use of the pesticides.