Illinois legal aid group gets pesticides-related grant

CHICAGO (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is giving an Illinois legal aid group $30,000 to educate farmworkers about and to do research on pesticides.

The EPA said in a recent statement that the money going to Legal Aid Chicago will, among other things, help it survey corn-detasseling workers and fruit harvesters in Illinois on their knowledge of pesticide use.

It says the goal is to improve the health of migrant farmworkers.

Legal Aid Chicago says Illinois' Department of Agriculture has received a record number of nearly 1,000 complaints in 2019 on alleged misuse of pesticides. It says that's ten times recent averages and illustrates the need for better education.

The money going to Legal Aid Chicago is part of a series of grants nationwide for groups working on similar measures.