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PESTICIDE RISKS TO FARM WORKERS
Farm worker
groups filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Environmental
Protection Agency for approving the re-registration of two
organophosphate pesticides, azinphos-methyl (AZM) and phosmet,
that they say continue to poison workers, their children,
communities and the environment.
Azinphos-methyl
and phosmet
are highly toxic neurotoxins routinely used in the United
States which can major short- and long-term illnesses
including dizziness, vomiting, seizures, paralysis, loss of
mental function, and death. Farm worker children and people who
live within one quarter-mile of fields have four to five times
more chemicals in their bodies from exposure to
organophosphates, including AZM, than other individuals. More
than 75% of reported poisonings occur either when farm workers
are exposed to pesticides that drift away from where they are
applied, or when workers are exposed to pesticide residues,
often upon re-entering treated fields. Farm worker families and
communities are further exposed to organophosphates through
“take-home” exposures on clothing, cars, and skin that
then get trapped indoors or closed living quarters.
The
lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Seattle by
attorneys with Earth justice, Farm worker Justice Fund,
California Rural Legal Assistance, and the Natural Resources
Defense Council on behalf of Sea Mar Community Health Centers,
United Farm Workers of America (UFW), Pineros y Campesinos
Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), National Campaign Against the
Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), and Frente Indígena Oaxaqueña
Binacional.
“It is
outrageous that EPA authorized the use of these pesticides,
putting thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every
year,” said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm workers of
America. “These two pesticides can poison so many
farm workers that EPA found the risks unacceptable, but the
agency still allowed them to be used.”
The
plaintiffs claim that there were severe deficiencies in the
re-registration of the two pesticides. They argue that the EPA
has continued to allow uses of the pesticides without
considering the. They also argued that EPA’s cost-benefit
analysis was skewed toward the estimated economic value of
using the two pesticides and failed to adequately quantify the
magnitude of the risks posed to workers, their children,
communities, and the environment. They further claim that EPA
discounted the use of safe and proven alternatives and used
industry-generated data without subjecting it to the light of
public scrutiny.
“We
are asking the federal district court to overturn EPA’s
unlawful authorization of these extremely toxic pesticides,”
said Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earth justice, “and to
force EPA to consider the magnitude of the harm to workers,
and proven alternatives that are less harmful to farm workers
and communities.”
This
action comes on the heals of an updated report focused on
California called Fields
of Poison 2002 released in September 2002 by Pesticide
Action Network North America (PANNA) and two of the groups
involved in the lawsuit. The report reveals that pesticide
safety laws fail to protect many of the state's 700,000
farm workers from poisonings even when the laws are apparently
followed.
AZM and
phosmet are mostly used to kill pests on orchard crops such as
apples, cherries, pears, preaches, and nectarines. The highest
uses occur in Washington, Oregon, California, Michigan,
Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Farm workers
are distressed throughout the nation and federal law provides
little relief. In 1996, EPA dealt a severe blow to the Worker
Protection Standards created in 1974. The policy change
allowed workers who had never received pesticide training to
work five days in the fields without any information about the
dangers. The new standards also reduced the number of days
that growers must provide water for hand-washing (one gallon
for every worker) from one month to one week for certain
pesticides. Not surprisingly, two years later, skin rashes
reported by field workers began to climb. In 1998, the rate
was about 11 cases per 10,000 workers. By 2001, the rate
jumped to nearly 27 cases per 10,000 workers, among the
highest for any occupation, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
(Beyond Pesticides, January 15, 2004)
For more
information contact Jay Feldman at 202-543-5450 or
Grant Cope, Earthjustice, 206-343-7340 ex. 25
Patti Goldman, Earthjustice, 206-343-7340 ex. 32
Aaron Colangelo, NRDC, 202-289-6868
Erik Nicholson, UFW, 206-255-5774
Ramon Ramirez, PCUN, 503-982-0243 x201
Shelley Davis, FJF, 202-783-2628
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