Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS)

The CHAMACOS Center works with families in a farmworker community to learn how pesticides and other environmental exposures affect the health of mothers and children. CHAMACOS means small child in Mexican Spanish. The CHAMACOS Center is comprised of several research projects investigating the environment and children’s health in the Salinas Valley, Monterey County, California.

CHAMACOS is a project of the U.C. Berkeley Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research, in partnership with Natividad Medical Center, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, and other community organizations.

The goals of the UC Berkeley Children’s Center and CHAMACOS study are:

• To assess pesticide and other environmental exposures in pregnant women and young children;
• To examine the potential health effects of these exposures on childhood growth, neurodevelopment, and respiratory disease;
• To learn more about the mechanisms of pesticide immunotoxicity and neurotoxicity;
• To develop community-based outreach and interventions that reduce take-home pesticide exposure to children of farmworkers.

The Salinas Valley, considered the "Salad Bowl of the World", is one of the world's richest agricultural areas. Spreading over 225,000 irrigated acres, it is home to an incredibly diverse yield of crops including lettuce, strawberries, broccoli, artichokes, carrots, cauliflower, celery, and wine grapes. In total, over 35 crops are harvested each year.

Agriculture is a vital part of the Salinas Valley community; approximately 18 percent of all jobs here are agriculture-related. The financial impact for this community of 150,000 residents is equally dramatic: agriculture in the Salinas Valley grosses over two billion dollars annually, and employs approximately 35,000 farmworkers.

Click here for a map of pesticide use in the Salinas area