TAKE ACTION PROTECT WORKERS AND CHILDREN FROM PESTICIDES

The farmworkers who help bring fresh fruit and produce to our tables and the people who apply pesticides in our homes and communities aren’t protected by the same safety standards that most workers in the U.S. enjoy. Farmworkers and pesticide applicators face repeated exposure to a range of toxic chemicals.

So when the Environmental Protection Agency announced an updated set of basic life-saving rules in 2015 and 2017, dozens of farmworker, labor, public health and environmental organizations rejoiced. But now the Trump administration has announced plans to reverse these crucial protections against pesticide exposure and poisonings.

From setting a minimum age of 18 for workers who mix, load and apply pesticides; to improving the content and quality of worker safety trainings; to providing farmworkers with anti-retaliation protections and the right to request pesticide-application information, these basic safety standards were put in place to protect the 2.5 million farmworkers in the U.S. who experience 10,000-20,000 reported pesticide poisonings per year, and approximately one million pesticide applicators.

Don’t let the Trump administration put farmworkers, pesticide handlers, their families and the broader public at risk. Tell your senators to stop this attack on the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard and the Certification of Pesticide Applicators Rule.

- Earth Justice

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EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wants to weaken rules that would prevent children from applying toxic pesticides and protect all of us from dangerous chemicals found in agricultural, commercial and residential settings.  By tampering with the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard and its sister set of safety standards, the Certification of Pesticide Applicators Rule, Pruitt is putting farmworkers, pesticide handlers, their families and the entire public at risk.

 

Pesticides are applied on our food and in, on or around our homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces. If the people who handle pesticides aren't adequately trained or don't understand the dangers of the chemicals they're handling, the health and safety of workers, communities and all consumers can be at risk. Pesticide misuse has led to worker poisonings and serious harm for hundreds of homeowners and their families, and resulted in the tragic deaths of children. 

With the lives of children and families across the country at stake, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), along with senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), are leading an effort to urge the EPA to preserve these protections by keeping the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard rule and Certification of Pesticide Applicators rule in place.  

As your constituent, I urge you to join them in signing the “Dear Colleague” letter opposing the EPA's attacks on the child and worker protection rules.