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DPR ANNOUNCES "RIGHT-TO-KNOW" INITIATIVE, RELEASES ILLNESS DATA

SACRAMENTO -- The California Department of Pesticide Regulation today announced a farm worker "right-to-know" initiative to help prevent pesticide injuries in the field. DPR also released a summary of 2001 pesticide illness reports.

The initiative will focus on keeping workers better informed when pesticides are used in their vicinity. Regulations to be developed by DPR would require prompt communication between pesticide applicators and growers to reduce the risk that workers may enter an area too soon after pesticides have been applied. Beginning this spring, DPR will discuss the proposals with agricultural organizations, worker advocacy groups, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Formal regulations could take effect in 2004.

Estimates of California's farm labor force range from 500,000 to more than one million workers.

"In the course of their daily work, these individuals face more potential risks from pesticide exposure than almost anyone else," said DPR Director Paul Helliker. "Workers have a right to know what pesticides are used on or near the job, and how to minimize risks from those pesticides. The focus of this regulatory package is on improving communications -- among growers, workers, and applicators -- to reduce those pesticide risks."

Data from DPR's Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program and the DPR Enforcement Branch found that early entry violations contributed to 47 reported episodes involving 171 worker illnesses from 1991 through 1999. DPR's investigation revealed that in two-thirds of those episodes, victims did not know fields had been treated.

DPR also has released a summary of all pesticide illness data for 2001, now available online at www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/whs/pdf/hs1843.pdf. A county-by-county breakdown of suspected or confirmed illness reports is attached.

DPR investigated 979 suspected pesticide illnesses in 2001, a decrease of 165 (14 percent) from 2000, when 1,144 cases were investigated. Pesticides were found to be at least a possible factor in 616 (63 percent) of the cases. Of those, 192 (31 percent) involved use of pesticides in agriculture, and 424 (69 percent) occurred in other settings.

DPR evaluates illness reports to assess the effectiveness of regulatory efforts, set enforcement priorities, and develop additional safety measures. Although state law requires physicians to report suspected pesticide illnesses, compliance is low. DPR obtains reports from other sources and continues to seek improvement in physician reporting. All illness reports go to County Agricultural Commissioners for initial investigation. DPR provides local authorities with technical investigative support and training.

Since the illness surveillance program depends upon reported illnesses and injuries, it does not produce a "census" of pesticide injuries. Studies by DPR's Worker Health and Safety Branch indicate that occupational and agricultural-related injuries are more likely to be reported than exposures that occur at home. The studies also indicate that the illness surveillance program is very effective in detecting illnesses involving a group of people injured in a single episode.

DPR's "right-to-know" initiative seeks to prevent worker injuries by making pesticide information more readily available, more easily understood, and by reinforcing compliance measures in the field. DPR is considering requirements that would:

• clarify the responsibility of a pest control business to notify the property operator (typically a grower) before a pesticide application occurs. Property operators would also receive notification if changes are made in scheduled applications, and again when applications are completed.
• clarify that the property operator is responsible for notifying workers about pesticide use, including employees of a contractor. DPR found that the current system makes it difficult to determine who bears ultimate responsibility for notification, which may cause confusion among pesticide applicators, field crew leaders, and growers.
• require that workers at the application site receive verbal notification of recent pesticide treatments, as well as written information about recent treatments within one-quarter-mile of the site. Current rules allow posting of pesticide information at a "central location" that may be miles away, perhaps in another county.
• require field warning signs to carry the date when a reentry waiting period expires. Currently, the signs carry a date only if the waiting period exceeds seven days.
• expand and clarify the information given to some workers (such as irrigators) whose duties require them to enter a field before the reentry waiting period expires.

Those proposals are based in part on Worker Health and Safety Branch studies HS-1819 and HS-1833, available at www.cdpr.ca.gov/cfdocs/apps/whsrpts/hsrep/index.cfm.

Among other efforts to reduce worker illness, the Worker Health and Safety Branch is conducting an in-depth evaluation of irrigator illnesses, based on reports from the Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program. Completion of that study is expected this year. Preliminary research suggests that additional protection may be needed for irrigators and others whose work requires early entry into treated fields.

As another part of its "right-to-know" initiative, DPR later this year will publish revised Pesticide Safety Information Series leaflets, which educate workers about pesticide safety requirements in both English and Spanish. DPR will consult worker advocacy groups to help make the leaflets easier to understand.

DPR also recently developed booklets that help farm worker employers comply with worker health and safety requirements. These guides are available online and from County Agricultural Commissioners. Topics include display of required information, pesticide decontamination facilities, emergency medical care, personal protective equipment, safety training, and more. See www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/enforce/cmpliast/bkltmenu.htm.

One of six boards and departments within Cal/EPA, DPR regulates the sale and use of pesticides to protect human health and the environment.

2001 reports of pesticide illness by county (PDF, 20kb)

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