More the 21,000 Signatures on Petition to EPA Being Delivered Today

EPA proposed changes to the WPS last year, and before the public comment period closed in August, hundreds of thousands of individuals urged EPA to do more to protect workers and their families. Today again, we calling on EPA to finalize the WPS by August 18th, one year from the end of that comment period. We will deliver a petition to the EPA later today with more than 21,000 signatures from individuals around the country asking the Agency to act swiftly to prevent further injury to workers from pesticides.

The U.S. EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) provides basic protections for farmworkers from exposure to pesticides. In 1992, when EPA last updated the WPS, it estimated that farmworkers in this country experienced between 10,000 and 20,000 physician-diagnosed pesticide poisonings annually. While the 1992 revisions led to some improvement in working conditions, the WPS stills fall woefully short of truly protecting workers. In the more than 20 years since those revisions were implemented, further research on the dangers of pesticides and its effect on workers’ health underscore the urgency in strengthening these protections. 

Twenty years is too long to wait. Every growing season that change is delayed results in thousands of preventable exposures to workers and their families.
 

Follow our facebook page for updates from petition delivery event.
 

EPA proposed changes to the WPS last year, and before the public comment period closed in August, hundreds of thousands of individuals urged EPA to do more to protect workers and their families. Today again, we calling on EPA to finalize the WPS by August 18th, one year from the end of that comment period. We will deliver a petition to the EPA later today with more than 21,000 signatures from individuals around the country asking the Agency to act swiftly to prevent further injury to workers from pesticides.

The U.S. EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) provides basic protections for farmworkers from exposure to pesticides. In 1992, when EPA last updated the WPS, it estimated that farmworkers in this country experienced between 10,000 and 20,000 physician-diagnosed pesticide poisonings annually. While the 1992 revisions led to some improvement in working conditions, the WPS stills fall woefully short of truly protecting workers. In the more than 20 years since those revisions were implemented, further research on the dangers of pesticides and its effect on workers’ health underscore the urgency in strengthening these protections. 

Twenty years is too long to wait. Every growing season that change is delayed results in thousands of preventable exposures to workers and their families.

Follow our facebook page for updates from petition delivery event.