ABSTRACT
On July 25, 1991, Juan de la Cruz (pseudonym), a 25-year-old Latino farmworker, fell ill suddenly during a day spent picking cantaloupes on a corporate-owned agribusiness farm in the San Joaquin Valley of California (NASD 2002). Cantaloupe harvesting is known to be one of the most arduous agricultural jobs. Usually, the melons are hand-harvested at “full-slip” (when the fruit breaks easily from the vine). Workers begin picking the mature fruit early in the morning once there is sufficient light. They work stooped over, pulling the cantaloupes from vines growing on the ground, and place them in a bag draped over their shoulders. Workers keep picking until their bags are full, at which point they weigh about 50 pounds (23 kg). They then carry their heavy load to a collecting truck that slowly drives through the field alongside each crew of workers. Cantaloupe workers are paid on a per-piece basis, with a day’s wages being determined by how many trucks a crew of 10 to 15 workers loads in a day. After the picking crews begin working, they continue without breaks until midday. When the trucks reach the end of a melon row, it takes several minutes for them to turn around, during which workers drink water and rest their increasingly weary backs. The day is long, the work is taxing, and the rewards are limited. Among the most economically disadvantaged groups of workers in the United States, farmworkers have elevated rates of work-related injuries, suffer from pesticide exposure, and are burdened with numerous infectious and degenerative diseases. Environmental health problems are frequent among farmworkers. On the morning of July 25, the day that Juan fell ill, the ambient temperature was 70°F (20°C) with a relative humidity of 70 to 80 percent. By noon, the temperature had climbed to 95°F (35°C). Ultimately, it reached a high of 101°F (38°C) with a relative humidity of about 25 percent. These conditions created significant risk for heat-related illness.
