Researchers in California say exposure to pesticide combinations increases health threats such as damage to DNA, hampering the body's ability to get rid of other toxins, and even increasing the risk of cancer.
The report from UCLA's Sustainable Technology and Policy Program showed that contact with any two out of three common pesticides fumigants at the same time - including chloropicrin, metam salts and Telone - can mutate cells and prevent them from repairing themselves.
Those three chemicals are commonly used for growing strawberries, tomatoes, stone fruits and tree nuts.
The study's authors called on California's pesticide regulation body to test commonly used pesticide combinations and impose restrictions on cocktails that could damage health.
The report prompted a coalition of parents, workers and educators in California's Pajaro and Salinas valleys to demand a 1-mile buffer zone between fields treated with pesticide combinations and homes and schools.