The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening its 20-year-old pesticide-handling rules for farm workers. The new rules provide more than one way to get that information through central posting of that information and through request of records.
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The new regulations, which will be put into practice over the coming year or so, require that workers applying pesticides be 18 years old; expand documentation and record-keeping requirements for employers; increase the frequency of mandatory safety training from once every 5 years to annually; and make fit-testing for respirators mandatory. EPA officials said the new rules are similar to protections already afforded workers in other industries.
Each year, between 1,800 and 3,000 potentially preventable pesticide exposure incidents are reported on farms, nurseries and commercial forestland, and many more go unreported, according to EPA.
-Expanded training includes instructions to reduce take-home exposure from pesticides on work clothing and other safety topics.
Enforcement will be handled by individual states.
Anti-retaliation protection for whistle blowers, whether USA citizens or otherwise. McCarthy said the cost of compliance is low – about $300 or $400 for large farms, and half that amount for smaller farms.
“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 don’t need to be adding regulations just to be adding regulations”, said Joe Sigg, director of government relations for the Arizona Farm Bureau.
The Agricultural Retailers Association made a statement as well, claiming the revised rule ignores industry comments and “opens new doors of potential liability” without improving worker safety. EPA also said it is concerned about low-level, repetitive exposure to pesticides that could contribute to chronic illness.
United Farmworkers President Arturo Rodriguez celebrated the move, which comes days after the union commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Delano grape strike – a work stoppage and boycott campaign led by Cesar Chavez that culminated in the establishment of major agricultural labor regulations in the state of California.
Pay isn’t the only realm in which farm labor lags behind. He said “today’s announcement is a dream come true”. “We will not turn our backs on the people who help feed this nation”.
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The Environmental Protection Agency teamed up with the Labor Department Monday to protect farm workers from the problems that stem from pesticide-borne illness.
