Pesticide drift sickens farmworker crew

[Guest guest]

>SACRAMENTO BEE

>September 22, 2006

>

>Spray sickens farm crew

>

>Potent pesticide sends dozens to hospital

>

>By Ferriss, Pamela eau and Edie Lau - Bee Staff Writers

>

>About 45 farmworkers in San Joaquin Delta fruit orchards were exposed

>Thursday to an extremely toxic pesticide sprayed by a nearby aircraft.

>

>Workers said they noticed a small plane spraying a nearby asparagus field,

>and their throats and eyes began to burn when a foul odor -- like a skunk's

>spray, they said -- wafted through an apple orchard on Grand Island near

>Walnut Grove.

>

>Some of the workers said they left the orchard right away and showered at a

>nearby labor camp, then drove in groups to Methodist Hospital in Sacramento.

>They went to the hospital to seek medical attention under orders of a

>company foreman following state law.

>

>At Methodist, the workers complained of nausea and skin irritation --

>classic signs of intoxication by the organophosphate pesticide Di-Syston,

>which the Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner's Office identified as

>the substance sprayed over the asparagus field.

>

>Five workers who hadn't showered and a hospital nurse who became ill after

>touching them had to be placed in a decontamination tent erected outside

>Methodist in a parking lot. They stripped off their clothing, and were

>washed with copious amounts of water, said Sacramento Fire Department

>officials.

>

>Hospital spokeswoman e Varozza said 34 workers in total showed up at

>the hospital - at different times - and were examined by staff doctors who

>decided it was not necessary to admit anyone.

>

>No one complained of respiratory distress, which signals a potentially

>lethal dosage of the farm chemical. No blood tests to measure traces of the

>pesticide were taken.

>

> " We don't know yet if there were violations, " by the pesticide applicator,

>said county Agricultural Commissioner Carl. " Was it OK? No, it wasn't

>OK because the workers were affected and we don't want workers to be

>affected. "

>

>Carl, who visited the site of the incident, said that some workers sought

>private medical examinations. He said the affected workers seemed to be at

>least 600 feet away from the aerial spraying, which is more than the

>required 300-foot safety buffer.

>

> " We suspected that they reacted to the odor, " Carl said, " rather than the

>toxicity of the product. "

>

>Nevertheless, his office will be investigating, with plans to interview

>every affected worker, the growers and the pesticide application company,

> Ag Flying Service, Inc.

>

>He said the pilot, who owns the company, is cooperating with the

>investigation.

>

>An application company is responsible for determining if weather conditions

>are proper for spraying and for not causing harm to workers or anyone else.

>Wind can cause a pesticide to drift.

>

> " These kinds of things absolutely should not happen, " said Veda Federighi,

>spokeswoman for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. She said

>the agency will take samples from fields and from workers' clothing to

>determine if there was drift of the pesticide.

>

>None of the workers who sought exams at Methodist Hospital appeared ill by

>midafternoon. They stood outside waiting for a few others to be released.

>All Spanish speakers, some said they were most concerned about the

>possibility of not getting paid for the day.

>

> " This means we've lost a lot of work time, " said , 23. He said

>he agreed to go to the hospital to be examined, " so as not to have doubts "

>about the exposure.

>

> and other workers said they received instructions to put their

>contaminated work clothes in a bag and wash them repeatedly without mixing

>them with other clothing.

>

>Some of the workers had been given fact sheets in Spanish about the

>pesticide.

>

> " It was a neighbor spraying. Nobody advised us it was happening, " said

>Alfonso Castillas, a foreman for DH & P Orchards, whose owner called Castillas

>on his cellular phone after hearing a news radio report about the incident.

>

>Staff of the Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner's Office talked

>with workers in Spanish outside the hospital, and tried to persuade them to

>take urine tests to look for traces of the pesticide.

>

>Some workers drove off before they could be stopped, and many seemed nervous

>about submitting to more exams. Only one worker volunteered.

>

>Federighi said the agricultural commissioner can levy civil penalties of up

>to $5,000 a person if violations of pesticide spraying are found.

>

>A major exposure of an organophosphate can affect the nervous system and

>even lead to death, according to information provided by Art Craigmill, a

>toxicology specialist at the University of California ative Extension.

>

>The incident occurred on the west side of Grand Island, southwest of River

>and Leary roads.

>

>Adrienne DerVartanian

>Staff Attorney/Policy Analyst

>Farmworker Justice

>1010 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 915

>Washington, DC 20005

>Tel. (202) 783-2628, ext. 204

>Fax (202) 783-2561

>www.fwjustice.org

>

>25 years of service to farmworkers

Deputy Director

Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc.

1010 Vermont Avenue N.W.

Suite 915

Washington, DC 20005

202-783-2628 Voice

202-783-2561 Fax

www.fwjustice.org

sdavis@...