EPA Acts To Mitigate 44 To 73 Percent Of Acute Pesticide Incidents Among Farmworkers

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/10/01/3707360/epa-pesticide-regulations/

by Esther Yu-Hsi Lee Oct 1, 2015

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took a major step this week to protect the thousands of U.S. agricultural workers who are exposed to pesticides every year, many of whom suffer from chronic health effects years after they stop working in the fields.

EPA officials announced that the agency will help mitigate pesticide exposure by updating a two-decade old regulation known as the Worker Protection Standard (WPS).

The finalized revision of the WPS includes increased mandatory training sessions to inform farmworkers on the protections their employers are required to offer them; expanded training to teach workers how to reduce “take-home exposure;” new anti-retaliatory provisions to protect whistleblowers who raise concerns; and “no-entry” application-exclusion zones up to 100 feet surrounding pesticide application equipment to protect workers from pesticide overspray. And, for the first time ever, the revision bars minors under 18 from handling pesticides.

The regulation, which will be phased in over the next two years, will affect agricultural workers and pesticide handlers who work on farms and in forests, nurseries, and greenhouses. Livestock workers are not covered. Once fully implemented, the revised regulation is expected to “avoid or mitigate approximately 44 to 73 percent of annual reported acute WPS-related pesticide incidents,” according to the EPA.

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“People are too immature at 16 years old to be able to handle pesticides, though many people thought that 18 was too young,” Jeannie Economos, Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator at the grassroots organization Farmworker Association of Florida, told ThinkProgress in a phone interview. “Younger people will think there’s no problem, they may not wear personal protective equipment, they might not think it’s necessary, or realize what they’re doing to their health or other people.”

Ruiz agreed that 16- and 17-year-olds don’t have “the emotional maturity” to work with pesticides because they may not know how to interact with their bosses when they have health-related questions or concerns. “They might not feel comfortable challenging their supervisors or employers about the potential harm,” she said.

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Mily Treviño-Sauceda recalled the time a plane flew over the citrus farm where she worked and doused her and other workers with pesticides. “Everyone just started suffocating,” Treviño-Sauceda told Earth Justice. “I tried to run away but couldn’t see or breathe. Everyone was covered with white dust and their eyes were itchy and watering.” Another farmworker Jovita Alfau, a U.S. legal resident and Mexican native, became dizzy, weak, and vomited after she was sent back to tend hibiscus plants 24 hours they were sprayed down. And yet another farmworker Yolanda Gomez told the Center for Public Integrity, “When you go to the field you go clean, and when you come out of the field you can see your eyes are very red.”

Studies have shown a correlation between pesticide usage and Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and asthma, among other problems that could affect workers on an organic and cellular level.

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It’s not just direct exposure that can make people sick — without proper training to remove clothing that’s been exposed to pesticides, farmworkers can also take home the residue with them to family members who then get sick. “At most agricultural work sites, there aren’t facilities on-site for workers to change out of their work clothes or bathe,” Ruiz said, explaining that her organization teaches workers to reduce pesticide exposure after their work shifts end. “Often workers will go home in the same clothes that they were wearing at work. If they have contact with their family members, for example, hugging their kids or touching other family members who haven’t been working in the fields, they can be exposed to pesticide residue.”

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At least some farmworkers are likely too scared to stop working with pesticides because they need their jobs. A survey of New Mexico farm workers found that managers told workers they would lose their jobs if they refused to work in direct contact with pesticides. What’s more, workers are often not warned about the chemicals they are working with, and do not know they have been poisoned until they start vomiting or have trouble breathing.

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