Re: [migrant_health_news] FW: Risk Assessment of Farm Worker Exposure to Pesticides - The EPA Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) will meet on February 14 through 16 in Arlington, Virginia to ...

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

The EPA Scientific Advisory Panel meeting described in the notice

below is quite important. The meeting will focus on the way that EPA

assesses the pesticide risks to farmworkers who enter work areas

after they have been treated by pesticides. The key issues here are:

1) methods of assessing exposure (primarily through the skin) and 2)

the appropriate clustering of crops and tasks that result in similar

doses of exposure. Anyone who is an expert in these areas should

nominate himself/herself to be a member of the SAP. To nominate

oneself or someone else, you should send an email TODAY to Myrta

Christian at EPA. The email need only say that you want to make a

nomination to the SAP considering the Agricultural Re-entry Task

Force data and provide the name of the nominee, his/her affiliation

and contact info. Please send the email to: christian.myrta@....

Thanks,

At 03:56 PM 1/3/2006, Ruiz wrote:

>EPA sent out this notice soliciting interested individuals to serve

>on a panel to discuss FW exposure to Pesticides.

>

> Ruiz

>Assistant Director, Systems Development and Policy Administration

>Migrant Health Coordinator

>National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.

>7200 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 210

>Bethesda, MD 20814

>(301) 347-0442

>(301) 347-0459 FAX

>(202) 365-0154 Cell Phone

>jruiz@...

>www.nachc.com

>

>

> " Youth is the gift of nature but age is a work of art. "

>- Garson Kanin

>

>NOTICE: As a result of Hurricane Katrina, over 100 health center

>sites in LA, MS and AL have been totally destroyed, are closed due

>to damage, or damaged but still operating. The total estimated

>damage is $65 million. To date, $1.7 million has been contributed

>to the Hurricane Relief Fund for Health Centers. It's not too late

>to make a donation. Please visit us at www.nachc.com for more info

>or to make a contribution. Thank you!

>

>

>

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: Bravo.@...

>[mailto:Bravo.@...]

>Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 2:31 PM

> Ruiz

>Subject: Risk Assessment of Farm Worker Exposure to Pesticides - The EPA

>Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory

>Panel (FIFRA SAP) will meet on February 14 through 16 in Arlington,

>Virginia to " ... consider the Review of Worker

>

>

>This is to commend your continued interest in the health of America's

>farm workers, and to invite you to share with other farm worker

>advocates the opportunity to become involved in a very meaningful part

>of the decision-making process for pesticides. The FIFRA SAP is an

>advisory body to EPA, and an avenue for highlighting issues that may be

>of particular relevance to farm workers and their families which should

>be taken into account in the risk assessment, and subsequently, risk

>management processes.

>

>

>

> RISK ASSESSMENT, CROP PROTECTION, MIGRANT AND SEASONAL FARM WORKERS AND

> OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

> * Risk Assessment of Farm Worker Exposure to Pesticides - The EPA

> Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory

> Panel (FIFRA SAP) will meet on February 14 through 16 in Arlington,

> Virginia to " ... consider the Review of Worker Exposure Assessment

> Methods ... " - The FIFRA SAP is seeking the nomination of individuals

> to serve as ad hoc members of the Panel - In announcing the meeting,

> EPA notes that " ... The Agency issued its first occupational exposure

> testing guidelines in the early 1980s. These guidelines were intended

> to standardize the methodology used to conduct the studies necessary to

> allow the Agency to determine the potential exposures, and consequently

> risks, associated with the activities surrounding pesticide exposure.

> These activities included handling pesticides (i.e., mixing, loading

> and applying) as well as exposures resulting from working in fields

> following pesticide applications (e.g., harvesting, thinning, weeding).

> In the early 1990s, the Pesticide Handlers Exposure Data base was

> constructed in order to estimate exposures resulting from

> mixing/loading/applying pesticides. The studies assembled for use in

> this data base were taken from published literature as well as from

> industry-generated studies. This database has been used as the main

> source for estimating occupational exposures to workers handling

> pesticides for both registration and reregistration actions. In 1995,

> in order to develop a similar data base which could be used to address

> fieldworker exposures, the Agency issued a data call-in notice (DCI)

> for post-application farmworker exposure data. As a result of this DCI,

> every pesticide registrant who manufactured products that could lead to

> post-application farmworker exposures needed to generate data that

> could be used to quantify exposures to their products. In response to

> the issuance of the 1995 DCI, most major pesticide registrants

> consolidated their efforts and formed the Agricultural Reentry Task

> Force (ARTF). For more details, see http://www.exposuretf.com . The

> ARTF has generated the vast majority of the post-application farmworker

> exposure monitoring data since that time. It follows that the bulk of

> the data that have been generated by ARTF include exposure monitoring

> studies for a variety of hand-labor practices in a range of crops. The

> purpose of this meeting of the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) is

> to evaluate certain methodologies used to generate exposure studies and

> how the Agency uses these and other studies to conduct occupational

> exposure assessments ... " - EPA notes that " ... Individuals nominated

> for this meeting should have expertise in one or more of the following

> areas: Occupational exposure assessment, occupational exposure

> monitoring, agricultural practices (especially hand labor practices),

> statistics, and risk assessment. Nominees should be scientists who have

> sufficient professional qualifications, including training and

> experience, to be capable of providing expert comments on the

> scientific issues for this meeting ... " - Information about the FIFRA

> SAP is posted at http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap - EPA OPPTS OPP

> Contact: Myrta R. Christian, Office of Science Coordination and Policy

> at 202 564 8498; fax: 202 564 8382; e-mail: Christian.Myrta@... -

> EPA December 16 Federal Register :

>

>http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/20\

05/05-24139.htm

> - Three key issues have been identified by the Agency as the focus of

> this review. These include:

> * Hand Exposure Methods . Based upon review of the data, it

> appears that the hands are important contributors to overall exposure

> levels. In most monitoring studies used by the Agency, a wash

> technique, which is based on methods described in the scientific

> literature, is generally utilized to measure exposure to the hands. The

> goal of this evaluation is to identify issues associated with the use

> of this technique and to make recommendations with regard to how these

> data should be interpreted for exposure assessment purposes based on

> factors such as chemical properties and exposure duration.

> * Predictive Capability of Exposure Monitoring Techniques .

> Most exposure data that are currently available are based on the use of

> passive dosimetry techniques (e.g., whole-body dosimeters and

> handwash). These data quantify the residues that result on the surface

> of the skin after completing a job task of some sort. The purpose of

> this evaluation is to characterize the performance of passive dosimetry

> as a predictive tool for risk assessment purposes (e.g., through

> comparison with biological monitoring data and other possible

> analyses).

> * Clustering of Hand Labor Tasks for Exposure Assessment

> Purposes . The crops in the United States that require hand labor for

> successful production are extremely varied and range from field crops

> such as lettuce (e.g., harvest is a key labor requirement) to tree

> fruit such as apples (e.g., thinning and harvest are key labor

> requirements). Based on the currently available data and a need to

> address exposures related to hand labor across agriculture, the Agency

> has created clusters or groups which represent categories of exposures

> that are believed to be similar for assessment purposes. These

> categories allow the Agency to develop risk estimates for a wide range

> of crops and were defined based on agronomic and ergonomic similarities

> in crops and workers, respectively. The purpose of this evaluation is

> to characterize the methods used to define a representative cluster and

> analyze the monitoring data that pertains to that group which are then

> used for exposure assessment purposes. An example, based on vineyard

> and trellis crops will be used for illustrative purposes.

>

>

> Let me know if you have any questions.

>

> Best regards and happy new year.

>

> Bravo

> Office of Water

> US Environmental Protection Agency

> 202-566-1976

>

>

>

>

>