Pesticide protection of migrant farmworkers

[Guest guest]

Barbara Cote' @ (616)393-5775

Community Health Assessment Coordinator

Ottawa Co. Public Health Dept

12251 St. Suite 400

Holland, Michigan 49424

FAX: (616) 393-5643

Dear Grace Robiou,

We have just completed data collection for our Ottawa County health and

occupational survey of Hispanic migrant workers with the n-Samora

Research Institute. The preliminary results suggest a wide range of

awareness of the health hazards of pesticide exposure although Michigan

requires instruction on this. One issue that we could not explore was the

safety of the water table supplying the camps as most of these were located

at the edge of the crops. However, one camp was buying bottled water as

they disliked the high iron content (flavor) of the well water. To my

knowledge, our environmental dept. only tests resident wells. Has anyone

done a study of the water supply to farmworker camps?? Also, there was

quite a discrepancy in awareness of when it was safe to return to a field

treated with pesticides. Some responded that it was no problem as spraying

was done at night (air pollution?) and they didn't go into the fields

until the next morning. We also discovered that farmers post the required

warning signs, but leave them up continuously throughout the season,

relying on word of mouth to send the real alert.We also had reports of

workers and children exposed to spraying who developed rashes and breathing

problems, but were reluctant to report this for fear of losing their jobs.

(Obviously, the undocumented workers are also loathe to report). Is there

any protective legislation for them in these occurrences?