Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017
Page 5
News
A crowded room
FARMWORKERS, fro m page 4
analysis.
There are no laws currently in effect,
either federally or in Oregon, that protect
farmworker living areas, such as at the
Leary Road Camp, from pesticide spray or
drift.
This year, there were 309 registered farm
labor camps in Oregon, housing more than
9,200 people. However farm labor advocates
estimate there are hundreds of additional
unregistered camps.
The EPA’s aforementioned economic
analysis of farmworker pesticide exposure
preceded the agency’s updated Agricultural
Worker Protection Standard of 2016. Most
of the new rules went into effect in January,
with others slated for implementation at the
beginning of 2018. The rules were intended
to further protect farmworkers from
pesticide poisoning, and adopted portions
included increased training requirements for
pesticide applicators.
Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, or OSHA, however, delayed
the adoption of one of the new rules after
strong opposition from farmworker
advocates who thought it didn’t do much to
protect workers as it was written.
The rule would create Application
Exclusion Zones around areas where
pesticides are sprayed. Despite the name,
pesticides are not actually prohibited in
these zones. The law requires a 100-foot
exclusion zone around the pesticide-spraying
equipment, which people would have to
vacate during application as the equipment
moved across the field. When farmworker
housing exists in a zone being sprayed, the
rule states that any workers that are in that
zone at the time must go inside the housing.
Street Roots first reported on this
proposed rule in December (see news.
streetroots.org/shelterinplace).
With some orchards and crops sitting
close to labor camp housing, there is high
potential for the pesticide to drift onto the
camp area.
Because of the shoddy conditions found
at many of Oregon’s farm labor camps,
advocates say, pesticide drift can easily seep
through cracks in doorways and windows,
and also ends up as residue on outdoor
eating, cooking, laundry and children’s play
areas.
In response, OSHA convened an advisory
committee of stakeholders, including
farmworker advocates, growers and farm
industry lobbyists, to assist in drafting a
stronger rule that Oregon would adopt in
place of the EPA’s protection standard.
What followed was six months of
contentious meetings in which advocates
and growers often engaged in heated
exchanges over what the new rules should
at the E & S Farms
worker camp in
Woodburn houses
six farmworkers.
Besides three
bunk beds and
some shelving,
there is little
furniture for
storage or dining.
P H O T O B Y E M IL Y G R E E N
rule should be based on data.
adequate because on the label of some of
In an interview with Street Roots, Wood
these products they use, there’s a no-entry
Get involved
said a buffer zone is out of the question
interval of four hours, 12 hours, and some
HUM ANELY PRO DUCED FOOD
because there is no precedent for his
of them even more than 24 hours.”
To find out more about the “Responsibly
agency, OSHA, to ban a legal pesticide in a
This re-entry interval would still apply to
Grown, Farmworker Assured” label, visit
context such as that.
the treated area but would not cover any
OSHA’s authority, while broad, “does not
area that was potentially affected by
equitablefood.org.
extend to banning any particular work
pesticide drift.
O S H A ’S P R O P O S E D R U L E S
activities,” Wood said. “It is, at best,
Growers have repeatedly pointed to low
T h e open co m m en t period for O S H A ’s
uncertain whether we would have the
rates of reported pesticide drift and to the
authority to ban the use of an otherwise
proposed rules on the Worker
lack of data on how often drift affects
legal pesticide within a buffer zone.”
Protection Standard Application
farmworker housing.
In advisory meetings, some growers said
Exclusion Zone ends Dec. 15, and a
At the August meeting, Scott Dahlman
sheltering in place made more sense than
told the committee that he had gone
series of public hearings will be held
evacuating if evacuating meant workers
through every spray drift investigation over
across the state. Closest to Portland will
would leave only to walk back through the
the past three years and there were only
be the hearings in Woodburn: 6 p.m.
Application Exclusion Zone right after the
two.
Nov. 15 at CAPACES Leadership
application.
“One had drift; one did not,” he said. “I
Institute, an d 11 a .m , N ov. 16 at the .
At the heart of the issue, however, is an
know there are barriers to reporting, but it’s
Woodburn Grange.
industry that relies heavily on pesticides to
good to take a look at the numbers we do
get the job done.
have.”
PUBLIC COMMENT
“We need to find sustainable methods of
Dahlman is the policy director at
To submit a public comment to OSHA
agriculture,” said Arkin, who’s been present
Oregonians for Food and Shelter, whose top
before the Dec. 15 deadline:
at every committee advisory meeting. “I
donors include agrichemical giant Monsanto
B y m a il: Department of Consumer and
know that organic farmers will tell you it can
and Dow Chemical Co.
be done. And maybe not all farmers want to
Business Services at Oregon OSHA,
Low rates of reported drift had come up
go organic, but I think we can certainly be
350 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301-
at an advisory meeting in April, as well, to
less toxic and more sustainable.”
which Wood asked, “I think the question is,
3882
The rule as it’s written applies to
is all drift reported?”
B y e m a il: tech.web@oregon.gov
farmworkers, but protections are also needed
He went on to explain pesticide drift is a
B y fa x : 503-947-7461
for forestry workers, said Carl Wilmsen,
lot like speeding: It’s illegal, but it’s
director at NW Forestry Workers Center.
OSHA information: Call 503-947-7449
happening anyway, so it needs to be
“In the survey we did of 150 forest
mitigated.
workers in the Rogue Valley in 2011, he
“Highways aren’t designed to only be safe
Regardless, his agency proposed a new
said, “half of the workers in our sample said
at 65 miles per hour,” he said.
set of rules in October. The rules still
they had worked with pesticides in the
Breezes as slow as 9 or 10 mph, as well
require workers to shelter in place, however
previous five years, and 25 percent of these
as other weather factors such as
language has been added around securing
said that they had gotten sick from
doors and windows and turning off air intake temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit
pesticides.”
or humidity below 40 percent, can cause
mechanisms.
Of the seven lawsuits PCUN is currently
pesticides to drift, remain buoyant in the air
The new rules also have the added
waging against harmful pesticides, one came
or evaporate into smaller particles that are
requirement that workers evacuate housing
close to getting chlorpyrifos off the shelves.
easily carried away, according to experts at
in an expanded 150-foot distance from the
“Last year, EPA determined, at the
Oregon State University s Integrated Plant
applicator when the pesticide being sprayed
recommendation of their scientists, that the
Protection Center.
requires that the worker spraying it wear a
In addition to the evacuation requirement, chemical agents in chlorpyrifos were very
respirator. People must remain evacuated
dangerous to children and pregnant women.
OSHA added a provision to the new rules
from the area for 15 minutes.
Any contact, even from drift, would cause
requiring that farmers build storage sheds
During the final advisory committee
neurological damage in children and in
be.
where
workers
can
store
their
boots
and
meeting in August, an attorney who
Some growers argued that because the
unborn fetus,” Ramirez said. “We were
shoes to prevent them from tracking
represents
farmworkers
at
Oregon
Law
negotiating with the EPA to get it banned,
EPA under President Donald Trump was
pesticides into their homes.
Center,
Nargess
Shadbeh,
had
argued
that
and then the election happened.”
likely throwing out the new rules anyway,
Arkin suggested farmers should also be
workers
should
be
given
alternative
housing
there was no reason for Oregon to add its
Now, he said, that decision has been
required
to
offer
their
residents
tarps
so
or motels during evacuations.
reversed, and PCUN has filed a complaint
own version.
they
can
cover
picnic
tables
and
outdoor
While growers said this would be
OSHA Administrator Michael Wood said
and is preparing to take the EPA back to
cooking and play areas.
expensive,
she
argued
that
health
care
is
the EPA has already taken the initial steps
court.
Advocates say they would also like to see
expensive too.
of withdrawing the Application Exclusion
“We know that the growers are not
OSHA implement a 100-foot buffer zone
“Twice a year, reserve motels,” she said.
making enough money, that in America we
Zone rule.
. . .
,,
around housing where no pesticides can be
“Some
workers
are
taking
it
out
of
their
own
“We have some informal indications that
eat too cheap,” he said, but for the
sprayed at all.
wages
now
for
their
children
because
they
it’s likely,” he said, “and frankly, looking at
farmworker, it’s not cheap.”
Growers argued that 100 feet was an
are concerned.”
the overall regulatory climate in
arbitrary number and that because it would
Beyond Toxics Director Lisa Arkin said of
Washington, D.C., their enthusiasm for rule
See FARMWORKERS, page 10
not be the state that bore the costs, any new
the
new
proposal,
“Fifteen
minutes
is
not
making of any sort is fairly limited.”