The largest U.S. farm organization and state agriculture directors petitioned the EPA to delay the Jan. 2 implementation of revised pesticide safety rules for growers and farmworkers. Under the rules, for the first time, people under the age of 18 years will be prohibited from handling pesticides.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture said state officials need more time “to prepare for compliance with the rule and to avoid the unfair and unredressable harm to farmers and ranchers.” They also said EPA failed to give the House and Senate Agriculture committees a copy of the final version of the rule so they could review it. In a release, the groups said “the rule subjects farmers to potential harassment and public criticisms for lawful use of EPA-approved pesticides.”
The worker protection rules, revised in 2015, expand a requirement for posting “no entry” signs when the most hazardous pesticides are used, provision of water for routine washing and decontamination, instruction on how to reduce “take-home exposure from pesticides on work clothes,” and mandatory record-keeping, for two years, of information on pesticide use and worker training. Farm owners and their families are exempt from the rules, said an EPA summary. It says there are 2 million agricultural workers and family members on farms, forests, nurseries and greenhouses.
The EPA page on the agricultural worker safety rule is available here.