“Harvesting Poison,” (HCN, 9/29/03:
Harvesting Poison) failed to mention or accurately report the
efforts of the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to
protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. WSDA places a high
priority on farmworker protection. For more than a decade,
WSDA’s Farmworker Education Program has provided
Spanish-language pesticide safety training to agricultural workers
and pesticide handlers, as well as pre-licensing and continuing
education training to farmworkers who need a license to apply
pesticides.
Recent efforts by WSDA have increased the
number of Spanish-language pesticide training programs offered,
developed a more diverse group of Spanish-language trainers, and
implemented an effective hands-on training that uses volunteer
bilingual trainers. Last winter, WSDA began offering
Train-the-Trainer programs to help foremen and farm owners better
understand their responsibilities for protecting farmworkers and to
help them deliver more effective employee training. Through all of
these efforts, the Farmworker Education Program has trained more
than 15,000 Hispanic applicators, handlers and workers.
We’re also about enforcement. WSDA’s pesticide program
has five (not one, as the article stated) bilingual staff —
three directly involved in the WSDA Farmworker Education Program
and two investigators. One of our bilingual trainers also conducts
inspections to ensure compliance with the state and federal Worker
Protection Standard (WPS). In 2002, WSDA conducted 36 unannounced
WPS inspections in which employers were checked for compliance with
WPS and agricultural employees were interviewed — away from
their employers — to measure the effectiveness of training
and their knowledge of the standards. One 2002 case involving WPS
violations resulted in a fine of $1,700 and a 24-day pesticide
license suspension.
Our state departments of Health and
Labor & Industries (L&I) are important partners in
farmworker protection efforts. WSDA and L&I jointly enforce the
Worker Protection Standard. The Department of Health educates
doctors, growers and farmworkers about ways to recognize and
protect against pesticide exposure. When WSDA receives a human
exposure pesticide complaint, it is mandated to respond within 24
hours and, in 2002, did so in 100 percent of the cases reported.
WSDA works continuously to provide information on WPS to
growers and others. Our annual newsletter, Pesticides Notes, which
reaches over 24,000 pesticide-license holders, about half of which
are growers and their employees, focuses on high-priority issues,
including farmworker safety and pesticide security. Bilingual staff
regularly participate in Spanish-language radio programs on
pesticide safety issues. WSDA interacts extensively with other
agencies, advocacy groups and the agricultural community in
providing its expertise for cooperative extension classes, ongoing
pesticide research, and community education projects. HCN’s
article did not present an accurate picture of the Washington State
Department of Agriculture’s efforts to protect farmworkers
from pesticide exposure. To us, farmworkers are not
“second-class citizens.” They are a top
priority.
Bob Arrington
Assistant
Director,
Pesticide Management Division
Washington State Department of Agriculture
Olympia,
Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Farmworker protection agency misrepresented.
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