Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
1999
Margaret Reeves and Kristin Schafer, Pesticide Action Network North America
Kate Hallward, United Farm Workers of America
Anne Katten, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
PDF version of this report

Agriculture is still one of the most hazardous occupations in the U.S. The death rate among agricultural workers nationwide was an estimated 20.9 per 100,000 workers in 1996 compared to the average for all industries of 3.9 per 100,000 workers. In addition to long workdays and high risk of physical injury, the nation's estimated 2.5 million farmworkers face a greater risk of pesticide exposure than any other segment of the population.

In California, the state with the largest agricultural economy in the country, farm work is conducted by a workforce of about 600,000 men and women. From 1991 to 1996 the California Environmental Protection Agency's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) reported 3991 cases of occupational poisoning by agricultural pesticides, an average of 665 cases per year.

Unfortunately, the situation is even worse than these numbers indicate. Pesticide exposure incidents often go unreported because many farmworkers are afraid of incurring medical bills since few have health insurance and many do not realize they are entitled to Workers' Compensation. Many workers fear retaliation from employers or are not provided sufficient pesticide hazard training to recognize symptoms of pesticide poisoning. Some farmworkers bear the symptoms they experience simply as part of the job.

Farmworker Poisoning Data Limited

Since the 1980s, California has had unique reporting systems for both pesticide use and pesticide-related illnesses. These data collection systems are intended to assist policy makers and the public in understanding the scope of pesticide use and poisonings in the state. Our attempts to use these data to understand farmworker exposure to pesticides, however, have uncovered significant limitations in the reporting systems.

Gaps in pesticide illness data, for example, limit efforts to pinpoint with certainty which crops and which pesticides used in production of those crops are responsible for the greatest number of farmworker poisonings. Nearly a third of the reported cases between 1991 and 1996 identify no specific crop associated with the poisoning incident. Many case reports contain little or no information on specific pesticides involved, type of work, symptoms or medical tests. This is partly because many doctors know little about pesticide poisoning and many are not filing required pesticide illness reports with county officials, so the opportunity for immediate investigation is lost.

In addition, the California pesticide illness reporting system addresses only acute health effects. Chronic effects are not accounted for, despite evidence that farm work is associated with elevated risk of certain cancers, birth defects, spontaneous abortion and developmental problems.

Despite these limitations, the data collected through California's pesticide use and pesticide illness reporting systems reveal disturbing trends, including increasing use of pesticides and continued high numbers of pesticide poisonings.

Reported Poisonings by Crop, Activity and County

Ten crops account for half of all reported agriculture-related pesticide illnesses (Table I). All other identified crops account for about 22% of reported illnesses, and in about 29% of the cases no specific crop was identified.

The majority of pesticide poisonings occur when farmworkers are doing fieldwork, such as picking, field packing, weeding, and irrigating. From 1991 to 1996 the two most common sources of exposure leading to pesticide-related illnesses were drift from pesticide spraying (44%) and field residues (33%).

The greatest number of poisonings were reported in Kern County (534), with a majority occurring in cotton and grapes. The 15 counties with the most reported pesticide-related poisonings are listed in Table II. In nine of those counties, the majority of reported poisonings had no specific crop listed as a source, severely limiting efforts to target regulatory actions to the most problematic crops. Data from all 48 counties in which pesticide poisonings were reported are listed in Appendix F.

Many Poisonings Are Not Reported

California's Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program offers a limited view of the extent of farmworker pesticide exposure. Although it is the most extensive reporting system in the U.S., many agricultural poisoning cases are never reported. The primary barriers to accurate reporting are intimidation from employers and fear of job loss. The following excerpt from a farmworker interview illustrates the extent of employer intimidation in some cases:

When Magdalena fell ill during her work as a picker at a large strawberry farm in Watsonville, California,[1] she told her foreman that her spreading rash was a result of pesticide exposure. She was grudgingly given permission to go to the company doctor, with the understanding that she would have to pay for the visit herself if the doctor did not declare her illness to be pesticide related. Within days, the worker was fired with only the explanation that she "wasn't putting enough into her work."

Retaliation against injured workers is illegal but all too common, and can have a chilling effect on an entire workforce. Federal and state laws prohibit retaliation against workers who are exercising their rights, but until the laws are effectively enforced, they offer little consolation to an injured--or fired--worker.

Enforcement of Laws Is Weakest in Areas of High Pesticide Use

California's county-based system for enforcing pesticide laws has serious weaknesses. A few counties do conduct fairly thorough inspections and investigations and issue fines for violations quite regularly. Unfortunately, these counties are the exception rather than the rule.

By comparing the five counties issuing the greatest number of fines to the five counties reporting the most agricultural pesticide use for 1995, it is evident that counties with greater agricultural pesticide use and more cases of agricultural pesticide illness issue very few fines (Table III). No county in the Central Valley, the state's agricultural heartland, issued more than an average of 25 fines per year. In contrast, primarily urban Los Angeles County issued an average of 124 fines annually. (See Appendix I for the enforcement record of all counties.)

Statewide, county agricultural commissioners issue fines for about a tenth of the violations they document. In fiscal year 1996-97, only 657 fines were issued statewide for pesticide violations. The vast majority of actions (5,153) were "Notices of Violation" and "Letters of Warning," which carry no fine and are not recorded in permanent statewide records. Hundreds of additional documented violations led to no action at all. This means that for more than 85% of the documented violations for this period, no central record exists of either the nature of the violations or the names of businesses receiving warning notices.

When fines are issued, they are generally very low. Of the fines issued from 1991 through 1996, almost half were less than $151, and less than 5% exceeded $1,000. The large fines issued generally result from investigations of episodes of pesticide drift or early field reentry affecting large crews of workers. This approach is analogous to the highway patrol issuing speeding tickets only when a huge pile-up occurs, and just sending a letter that says, "Please don't speed," to other violators.

Recommendations

The most important and urgently needed step to reduce exposure is eliminating use of those pesticides which endanger the health and well-being of farmworkers throughout the state. Farmworker experiences show that even pesticide applications which follow the letter of the law can result in exposure or illness. Phasing out use of the most dangerous pesticides--those that cause cancer or reproductive harm, or are extremely toxic to the nervous system--would represent a tremendous step toward a more sustainable, healthy and humane agricultural system.

To achieve this goal and reduce the level of farmworker exposure to those pesticides which remain registered, we recommend that state agencies take the following steps:

1. Rapidly phase out use of the most toxic pesticides and promote healthy and sustainable alternatives. California's Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) should develop and implement a plan to phase out use of pesticides that cause cancer or reproductive harm, or are highly poisonous acute nerve toxins. The California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Food and Agriculture should commit significant resources to research and training in support of organic and other sustainable agricultural practices.

2. Improve regulations to reduce farmworker exposure. DPR should take a number of immediate steps, including banning aerial spraying of pesticides, prohibiting backpack spraying for restricted use pesticides, and expanding buffer zones and posting and notification requirements.

3. Strengthen enforcement of existing laws. DPR should abolish the option of issuing notices of violation that carry no fine, set minimum mandatory penalties, increase fine levels for moderate and serious violations, and abolish leniency toward violators who claim to be unfamiliar with regulatory requirements. An independent review board should be established to evaluate the performance of county agricultural commissioners in enforcing pesticide regulations.

4. Improve reporting of pesticide poisonings. The Department of Health Services should expand its existing program to train doctors about pesticide poisoning diagnosis, treatment and reporting requirements, and should establish and fund a program to monitor long-term health impacts of pesticide exposure among farmworkers. California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) and the Medical Board of California should exercise their authorities to fine doctors who fail to report pesticide poisonings promptly to county health officers. In addition, "safety incentive" contests which provide bonuses or prizes to work-crews when no injuries or illnesses are reported should be prohibited.

5. Improve farmworker access to medical treatment. Existing regulations requiring employers to take workers promptly to a doctor if pesticide poisoning is suspected should be enforced. Funding for migrant clinics and other health care providers for farmworkers should be increased, and agricultural employers should provide health insurance and/or establish a fund to finance farmworker health care costs.

6. Ensure farmworker and public right-to-know. DPR should expand workers' right-to-know by requiring adequate posting of restricted entry intervals and descriptions of acute and chronic health effects associated with each pesticide applied, both in an understandable format and language. Farmworkers should also be guaranteed "adequate warning" about exposure to carcinogens and reproductive toxins as required under Proposition 65, and DPR should establish a public database with information on the amount of pesticides used, violations reported, number of workers affected by the violations and the number of pesticide illnesses for each user/grower. These data should be released to the public no more than six months after the end of the year for which the information is reported to DPR.

[1] Farmworker accounts are excerpted from worker testimony and county pesticide episode investigation reports. Names have been omitted or changed to protect the workers.