Posted May 19, 2014
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
extended the comment period for an additional 60 days for proposed revisions to
the agricultural Worker Protection Standard, according to an article by The
Grower available here. The Federal
Register notice is available here. Feedstuffs also reported on the story here.
The EPA says that growers, industry, farm worker
advocates and states requested additional time to provide input, according to a
Central Valley Business Times article available here. “The opportunity to revise the rule may not
come again for some time, so we are committed to getting it right,” says Jim
Jones, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
“Updating the 20-year old regulation to provide more
protections to the nation’s two million farm workers and their families from
pesticide exposure is a priority for EPA,” he says.
The proposed rule would increase mandatory training for
agricultural workers from once every five years to annually to inform workers
about specific protections. The rule
would also expand mandatory posting of “no-entry” signs and buffer areas;
improve states’ ability to enforce compliance; and make specific pesticide
information available to farm workers and medical personnel. In addition, the rule would prohibit children
under age 16 from handling pesticides.
An exemption for small family farms applies. For more information on the proposed rule, a recent
post from this blog is available here.
For more information on pesticides, please visit the National
Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
