Study to track pesticide exposure

A survey of Yakima Valley farmworkers found that about a quarter of the respondents don't wear protective gear for pesticides, and about half do not promptly remove and wash contaminated clothing when they go home, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center officials say.

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Subject:    More POISONED People--------
Date:        Sun, 23 Jan 2000 11:59:44 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article on "registered" POISON exposure at:     http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/yaki_20000118.html - it ran on Tuesday, January 18, 2000, 05:15 a.m. Pacific Time, and was entitled:
Study to track pesticide exposure of Yakima Valley farmworkers, children- by The Associated Press.

YAKIMA - A survey of Yakima Valley farmworkers found that about a quarter of the respondents don't wear protective gear for pesticides, and about half do not promptly remove and wash contaminated clothing when they go home, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center officials say.

The survey of 571 area farmworkers last summer is part of a five-year federal study of pesticide exposure among the workers and the effect on their children.

Researchers took urine samples from children and dust samples from farmworkers' vehicles to assess children's exposure.

The samples will be screened for organophosphates, a class of pesticides that at high doses has been linked to cancer and can seriously affect the central nervous system, said Gloria Coronado, senior research specialist at the Hutchinson center in Seattle. Test results will be available in the spring from the University of Washington.

"The exciting thing about this is that we will be able to do some intervention," Coronado said.

Researchers are working with a local advisory board that includes growers, health-care workers and farmworker advocates, she said.

Over the next two years, researchers will educate people about reducing children's risk of exposure.

They then will take another round of urine and dust samples.

"We want to see if we were able to change people's practice and reduce their exposure to pesticides," Coronado said.

The project is part of a larger $6.75 million UW study of environmental-health issues and children - one of several nationwide studies financed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

There are some basic rules for avoiding contamination: removing shoes and work clothes, washing clothing separately, bathing, and not holding children until contaminated clothes are removed.

The survey said about a third of those interviewed had direct contact with pesticides - applying, mixing or loading them.

About half of the respondents reported changing clothes within an hour of coming home and not holding their children until they had changed clothes.

Hutch researchers hope to reach the nearly 50 percent who don't use those basic safeguards, Coronado said.

Experts agree that low-level contamination seems pervasive in workers who enter a field or orchard after pesticide has been sprayed, and that chemical residue can be taken home on clothing or shoes.

Of farmworkers surveyed, only about 45 percent entering recently sprayed fields reported wearing boots, gloves, respirators and coveralls. Nearly 80 percent of those directly involved in the mixing, loading and application used such gear.

Overall, the survey said workers failed to use personal-protection equipment one-fourth of the time, though it was unclear whether the equipment was required.

Laws governing use of safety gear vary widely depending on the chemical (POISON) used and the task performed, said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Yakima-based Washington Growers League, which represents 800 growers.

"That 20 percent hole looks like noncompliance where there might not be," Gempler said.

For example, a person applying certain pesticides must wear a suit, hood, respirator, gloves and other protective gear.

But no protection is required for someone entering a field 14 days after application.

The survey does not differentiate between types of exposure, said Gempler, who has reservations about the research project.

Farmworker advocates hope the study will improve conditions.

"The contamination is so bad in the industry, it doesn't end in the fields," said Guadalupe Gamboa, Sunnyside-based regional director of the United Farm Workers of America. "I think the Fred Hutchinson study is going to be very important in showing the extent and seriousness of the problem."

In its report to the Legislature, the state Department of Health reported investigating 365 incidents of pesticide poisoning in 1997 affecting 441 people. More than half the incidents were agricultural, and four caused serious health problems.

The severity of poisonings appears to be diminishing, said Lynden Baum, manager of the department's pesticide and surveillance section.

"It's probably due to better education of licensed users of pesticides and the removal from use of many of the highly toxic insecticides," Baum said.

At lower levels of exposure, symptoms aren't as easily traced, he said.

According to state census figures, 78,000 people were hired for farm labor in Yakima County in 1997 - nearly a quarter of the state's total agricultural work force.
                      Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company

Well Lyndon, if they used safe and effective alternatives there would be no need to study how badly the people are being POISONED.  In addition the farmers would actually make more money with their organic produce.  When will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective alternatives in California?

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten.