PANUPS: EPA Sued for Farm Children's Pesticide Risks

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PANUPS: EPA Sued for Farm Children's Pesticide Risks

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 11:32:58 -0700

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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EPA Sued for Farm Children's Pesticide Risks

June 10, 2005

 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) and other farm worker,

environmental and public health groups have sued the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to address the increased risks that

farm children face from exposure to pesticides. Nine years ago the Food

Quality Protection Act of 1996 tasked EPA with ensuring that " no harm

will result to any children " - including farm children and the children

of farm workers - as a result of multiple pesticide exposures. Yet EPA

has never acknowledged that farm children face higher risks from

pesticide exposure.

 

" Children of farm workers breathe pesticides that drift from the

fields, and they often live, play, and go to school right next to

pesticide-treated orchards, " said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm

Workers of

America, AFL-CIO, which represents tens of thousands of farm workers

whose

families can be exposed to pesticides. A growing body of scientific

evidence confirms that children living on or near farms are exposed to

pesticides from food, air, soil and water. The complaint argues that

children of farm workers are exposed to pesticides that are carried into

their homes on shoes, clothing, hair and skin and " even on a farmworker

parent's embrace. " Farm children may also play near recently sprayed

fields, swim in irrigation canals and drink from wells with

pesticide-contaminated water.

 

More than a million children of farm workers live near farms in the

U.S. and more than 300,000 children under the age of six live on farms.

Children are particularly susceptible to pesticide exposure because their

bodies and brains are still developing and because they eat more fruits

and vegetables, drink more water (for their size), and have more

hand-to-mouth contact with dust, dirt and floors. Children are also

especially vulnerable to toxic effects of pesticides on their

developing brains,

and bodies.

 

The suit argues that EPA is ignoring scientific evidence of increased

health risks for farm children as pesticide exposure is increasingly

linked to neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, reduced

cognitive functioning and reduced coordination; developmental delays in

infants and children; reproductive harms, such as infertility,

stillbirths, birth defects and musculoskeletal defects; and cancer,

including

brain tumors, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, sarcoma and Wilm's tumor.

" Studies have shown elevated levels of pesticides in the homes and cars

of farming families that are absorbed by workers and their children, "

said Shelley Davis, co-executive director of the Farmworker Justice

Fund, co-counsel for the plaintiffs. " Put together with evidence of

increased rates of cancer and birth defects among farm workers and their

children, this research raises a red flag, " said Davis.

 

The plaintiffs charge that EPA has failed to consider farm kids'

heightened exposure risks when setting allowable pesticide standards for

food. Under the 1996 law, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), EPA is

required to account for specific factors when setting tolerance levels

for chemical pesticide residues that consumers and " major identifiable

subgroups " of consumers may be exposed to.

 

Two years after the FQPA was passed, the plaintiffs petitioned EPA to

identify farm children as meriting special consideration. The groups are

now suing EPA for failing to respond to that petition within a

reasonable amount of time. " We can no longer wait patiently while we

hear every

day from communities and individuals directly affected by toxic

pesticides, " said Margaret Reeves, Ph.D., senior scientist with Pesticide

Action Network North America. " It's time to light a fire under EPA to

force

it to act to protect farm children's health. "

 

The lawsuit was filed on June 7, 2005 against EPA and its

administrator, Stephen Johnson, in the U.S. District Court for the

Northern District

of California. The plaintiffs are Pesticide Action Network North

America, United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, NRDC, Clean Water

Action

and Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. Farmworker

Justice Fund and NRDC are serving as co-counsel for the plaintiffs. The

groups' lawsuit asks the court to rule that EPA's failure to respond to

their petition was unlawful and to compel the agency to respond within 90

days.

 

Sources: Press Release, June 7, 2005, PANNA; Complaint, PANNA, UFW,

NRDC, Clean Water Action and NCAMP vs. US EPA, http://www.panna.org;

Trouble on the Farm: Growing up with pesticides in Agricultural

Communities,

1998, NRDC.

Contact: PANNA

 

 

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and

reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the

mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North

America, a

non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance

sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and

all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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