EPA rolls out pesticide protections for farm workers

The country’s two million farm workers may soon have more protection from harmful pesticide exposure. Among the new requirements, children under 18 are prohibited from handling or working with pesticides, and training on pesticide protections will be required annually instead of once every five years.

The union and other organizations, however, noted that EPA stopped short of requiring active medical monitoring, including blood tests, of workers who mix and apply chemicals.

“Farm Bureau shares the agency’s desire to protect workers, but we are concerned that the agency is piling regulatory costs on farmers and ranchers that bear little if any relation to actual safety issues”, said Paul Schlegel, director of environment and energy policy for AFBF.

Farm workers have long campaigned for the EPA to update its pesticide protections.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled the landmark move as part of a broad revision to health standards that cover the nation’s 2 million agricultural workers.

The EPA says that between 1,800 and 3,000 cases of pesticide exposure are reported each year at farms, nurseries and other agricultural operations covered by the current standards.

The training required will be expanded, including information such as reducing exposure at home from pesticides on work clothes.

Mandatory posting of “no entry” signs in fields that have been treated with the most hazardous pesticides.

– Expand requirements on record keeping to improve state enforcement and follow up on violations.

The new rules require farms to make a host of changes. He said that even though farm workers have been integral to the movements that banned the use of toxic pesticides like DDT, it has taken decades to secure more comprehensive pesticide protections for farm workers, particularly through the EPA.

“Farm workers deserve to be healthy and safe while they earn a living”, she said.

New provisions about protective equipment will bring agricultural workers in line with rules that apply to other employees under federal law, such as training to ensure that respirators fit properly, EPA and federal labor officials said.

– Provide whistleblower protections, including for farmworkers who are not legally in the U.S.

“These are good improvements-we’re excited for it”, said Margaret Reeves, senior scientist with Pesticide Action Network, an worldwide group that advocates for safe and limited pesticide use. “We will not turn our backs on the people that help feed this nation”.

United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez said the changes were badly needed for a population that is largely low-income and made up of minorities.