Long-awaited EPA pesticide protections a 'mixed bag' for farmworkers

[ProSense]

Long-awaited EPA pesticide protections a 'mixed bag' for farmworkers

By Ronnie Greeneemail

Ushering in what it called “milestone” changes to better protect the nation’s farmworkers from pesticides, the Environmental Protection Agency this week proposed a slate of updates to its agricultural Worker Protection Standard.

The enhanced protections come 22 years after the EPA last revised the rules intended to safeguard the nation’s 2 million farmworkers from pesticides’ perils. Among other steps, the new rules would increase the frequency of mandatory pesticide training from every five years to every year, and include no-entry buffer zones to shield workers from spray and fumes.

“EPA’s proposal aims to pull farm workers up toward the same level of protection from environmental and health hazards that other professions have had for decades,” Gina McCarthy, the agency’s administrator, wrote in a blog post titled: A Step Forward: Protecting America’s Farmworkers.

Farmworker advocates agree the proposal represents a step forward.

But the long-overdue update falls short of the more sweeping changes advocates envisioned. It fails, for instance, to require medical monitoring of applicators handling toxic chemicals; sets 16, not 18, as a minimum age for those handling pesticides; and eliminates a requirement that growers display in a central location information on pesticides being applied.

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http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/02/21/14287/long-awaited-epa-pesticide-protections-mixed-bag-farmworkers

[ProSense]

1. Kick

are people only interested in "rumors"?

[ProSense]

2. More information:

Fact sheet: http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/safety/workers/proposed/proposed-wps-factsheet.pdf

Proposed Agricultural Worker Protection Standard: EPA Needs Your Input
http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/safety/workers/proposed/index.html