Marilyn Lucero

Dear Community Members,

It has come to my attention that our community could be potentially affected by the lack of regulation of farming, resulting in the risk of our food, being contaminated, and putting our lives in danger. Ohio has a law that essentially says that agricultural activities can be exempt from local zoning laws. It grants counties and townships to use of zoning but limits how much authority local government has over agricultural land uses. As a result, the risk of produce being contaminated is high. It could be contaminated by pollution, caused by local vehicles, animal, fecal matter, and people. With zoning, it ensures that the community won’t be affected by the antibiotics and fertilizers used on the produce that may pose a risk on our health. With these types of ways for contamination, it may transfer bacteria such as E. coli. Such as the time in 2019 when a large outbreak of E. coli broke out due to the contamination of lettuce,  connected to animal fecal matter, getting into the water that grows the produce. In order to prevent something like this from happening in our community, we need to come together and enact a zoning law that will prevent and protect our food and lives. 

-Marilyn Lucero