Agricultural Worker Protection Standard

EPA to drop proposal for younger pesticide applicators

On the same day that President Trump nominated Andrew Wheeler to be EPA administrator, the agency said it would withdraw a Trump-era proposal to set a minimum age of 16 for farmworkers to handle, mix, or apply pesticides, down from the age 18 limit specified in a 2015 regulation.

EPA will review minimum-age rule on handling pesticides

A 2015 update of the EPA’s Agricultural Worker Protection Standard required that farmworkers who handle or apply pesticides be at least 18 years old. The EPA now says it “has initiated a process to revise certain requirements in the WPS.”