Medical monitoring report followup

[Guest guest]

Published on Thursday, March 10, 2005=20

Monitoring program evaluated for curbing exposure to pesticide

By BENJAMIN ROMANO

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

<http://www.yakima-herald.com/temporaryimages/bp76062.jpg> =09

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic

Bob Tugwell talks about the prevention of eye injuries and falls as part

of his talk Wednesday at the Agriculture Safety Day in Yakima. =09

Dale Dougherty, safety manager for a major Yakima Valley fruit company,

described how the state's year-old program to monitor farm workers for

exposure to pesticides helped identify an unsafe practice by one of his

orchard workers.=20

The worker was removing a key piece of protective equipment - his

respirator - while spraying orchards last year. He was driving a tractor

with an enclosed cab, but it wasn't approved to keep out pesticides.

Even though the worker had received extensive safety training, he didn't

realize it was not safe to take off the respirator inside the cab while

he sprayed pesticide.=20

Dougherty, speaking Wednesday before a large audience of growers, state

regulators and orchard supervisors at the first-ever Agriculture Safety

Day in Yakima, said blood tests performed as part of the monitoring

program showed the worker had been exposed to a significant amount of

pesticide, though he displayed no symptoms or ill health effects.=20

In response, the company temporarily removed the worker from pesticide

spraying duties so he wouldn't be overexposed. Dougherty said they

examined his application practices and found the removed respirator. The

behavior that led to the exposure was altered, and the problem is gone.=20

And that's exactly how the program is supposed to function, said

Wood, the administrator of the monitoring program, which is run by the

Washington Department of Labor and Industries.=20

Much of the daylong safety seminar that drew more than 300 people to the

Yakima Convention Center was given over to discussion of the

controversial year-old monitoring program.=20

L & I monitors farm workers' systems for an enzyme called cholinesterase,

which plays an important role in the nervous system. The workers

frequently handle two categories of pesticides widely used in orchards:

organophosphates, including Guthion, and carbamates, such as Sevin.=20

The program starts with a baseline blood test at the beginning of the

year, before workers handle pesticides. Workers must have an initial

consultation with a medical provider, but they're not required to

participate in the program. Those who do participate get follow-up blood

tests periodically throughout the year, whenever they have handled

pesticides for a minimum number of hours in a month. Last year the

threshold was 50 hours in a 30-day period; this year it's been reduced

to 30 hours.=20

If the follow-up tests find the workers' cholinesterase levels have

fallen by 30 percent or more from the baseline, they are removed from

handling the pesticides to avoid over-exposure.=20

During 2004, which L & I's Stefan Dobratz called " very much a learning

experience, " 119 of 580 workers who received follow-up tests had

cholinesterase depression of 20 percent or greater, which the program

deems " significant. " Of this group, 22 workers showed depressions of 30

percent or above and had to be removed from work.=20

Ill health effects associated with overexposure, which don't typically

occur until cholin-esterase levels have declined at least 50 percent,

include blurred vision, nausea, shortness of breath and, rarely, more

serious symptoms. Last year, one worker's cholin-esterase was down 80

percent, but still displayed no outward symptoms.=20

" I'm not aware of any deaths related to occupational illness, due to use

of pesticide in Washington, " said Furman, L & I's technical expert on

the monitoring program.=20

Agriculture industry representatives also point out that the reported

cases of pesticide-related illness in Washington have been extremely low

during the past four years.=20

Wood, the program's administrator, said pesticide illness and other

maladies incurred on the job is often misdiagnosed.=20

" L & I is convinced that occupational illnesses are dramatically

underreported, " he said.=20

The state consulted with farmers whose workers had significantly

depressed cholinesterase to seek causes of pesticide exposure.=20

Dobratz said in the majority of cases, farmers had safety programs and

equipment in place. But workers don't always follow them to a T, and

equipment such as respirators may not fit correctly, or may not be

cleaned properly after each use.=20

Unclean equipment is a common way workers are exposed to pesticides. A

worker who touches his respirator and then wipes his brow could spread

pesticide to his skin.=20

" We need to think about how we're transferring material from one

location to another, " said Carol Ramsay, a pesticide safety expert with

Washington State University.=20

n Reporter Romano can be reached by phone at 577-7684, or by

e-mail at bromano@....