The Open Boat

Beyond Pesticides is alerting members of medical groups, environmental organizations as well as concerned citizens about the need to campaign for pesticide-monitoring legislation in their states.

Pesticide-induced illness is a serious public health issue given the widespread use of these chemicals. In general, policy makers are unable to adequately evaluate the health impact of pesticide exposure because pesticide poisoning is not a reportable medical or health event.

Only nine states (Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington) have have developed any kind of program that requires the collection of pesticide illness reports.

There is need for pesticide illness reporting and education legislation in every state as the federal government has not been collecting this kind of information and is not expected to take on this function.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did have a Pesticide Incident Monitoring System for over a decade, from 1978 until 1981. Since that time, the federal government left it to the individual states most of which are not collecting this information - even if it becomes available.

Collection of this data plays a key role in proactively protecting the public from harm. In a 1995 report, Pesticides: EPA’s Efforts to Collect and Take Action on Exposure Incident Data, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) said, “According to EPA staff, data on incidents of exposure played a significant part in 19 instances in which the agency took measures to protect the public health between 1989 and 1994.”

In a 2000 report, Pesticides: Improvements Needed to Ensure the Safety of Farmworkers and Their Children, GAO clearly spells out the deficiencies in the federal data collection system and concludes, “Officials from these agencies that collect data on pesticide illnesses confirmed that a lack of comprehensive national data exists . . . for the general population. . .” The report then explains the deficiencies associated with the range of databases that EPA uses to indicate the extent of acute pesticide incidents and illnesses. It cites four databases, including the American Association of Poison Control Centers, Section 6(a)(2) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the National Pesticide Telecommunications Network, and the California Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program. Click here for a copy of Pesticides: Improvements Needed to Ensure the Safety of Farmworkers and Their Children.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org