FW: Immokalee babies born with severe birth defects: Preventing & reporting pesticide exposure in Florida

[Guest guest]

Regarding the Immokalee babies born with birth defects....

Florida has a pesticide surveillance program run through the department of health however the number of cases reported to date has been very limited. There was a law past last year to beef up a farmworkers "right to know" about the pesticides they are being exposed to. There is a provision which allows doctors and other clinicians to request information from growers on their behalf. FACHC recently sent the email below to all our CHCs, farmworker contacts and department of health contacts to raise awareness among clinicians of their role in reporting suspected cases of pesticide poisoning. Apparently, all of us in the state need to do a better job of making sure that pesticides are everybody's "radar screen". Attached is more background information. I think the PB Post article hit the nail on the head with the observation that...

"The department's (of agriculture) basic task is to work with farmers to increase their business, and it does an ineffective job of monitoring worker safety," says , an attorney for Florida Rural Legal Services in Fort Myers. "It's a classic case of the fox guarding the henhouse. There is an inherent conflict of interest in the Department of Agriculture investigating pesticide cases."

"Unlike Florida, California has a separate Department of Pesticide Regulation, part of its Environmental Protection Agency and independent of its agriculture department."

Agriculture is the second biggest industry in Florida, after tourism, bringing in over 6 billion dollars annually. There are many powerful agricultural interests in the legislature that do not want the department of agriculture to turn over responsibility for monitoring pesticides to a more appropriate body, such as the department of health or environmental regulation. This is a battle that needs to be fought on many different fronts.

From: Sologaistoa [mailto:erin@...] Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:11 AMerin@...Subject: Immokalee babies born with severe birth defects: Preventing & reporting pesticide exposure in Florida Immokalee babies born with severe birth defects : Preventing & reporting pesticide exposure in Florida

Attached is a March 14th Associated Press article about babies born to farmworkers in Immokalee with severe birth defects . Florida leads the nation in tons of pesticides used in agriculture and there is a significant amount of anecdotal evidence linking pesticide poisoning with reproductive health problems and birth defects as well as severe respiratory and dermatological conditions.

Last year's Alfredo Behena Act, signed into legislation on May 14, 2004 reestablishes a farmworker’s right to obtain written health and safety information about the particular pesticides used in his or her workplace AND to designate another person or organization, including clinicians, to ask for this information on his or her behalf. According to the recent AP article....

"Under state law, doctors who believe that a medical condition was caused by pesticides must report it to authorities."

Attached is 1) An overview for medical professional related to pesticide exposures in Florida, 2) A form that can be used to request pesticide information from growers and 3) The Pesticide Information Form used to report suspected pesticide exposures to the Florida Department of Health's Pesticide Surveillance Program.

Please help make doctors and other health care clinicians aware of this important issue. For more information visit http://www.fachc.org/state_specific_resources.htm

Kay Sologaistoa, M.S. Southeast Migrant Health Coordinator Florida Association of Community Health Centers (FACHC) 433 North Magnolia Drive Tallahassee, Florida 32308 Office (850) 942-1822 Ext. 208 Fax (850) 942-9902 Cell (850) 519-1190 www.fachc.org