Comments invited on EPA Policy Paper on Revised Risk Assessment Methods for Workers, Children of Workers in Agricultural Fields - Federal Register Link Below:

[Guest guest]

Dear

Colleagues,

The EPA

today announced it is making available for public comment a policy paper

entitled:

Revised Risk Assessment Methods for Workers, Children of Workers in Agricultural Fields, and Pesticides with No Food Uses The paper describes how EPA will assess pesticide risks not governed by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Comments must be received by Feburary 8, 2010. Click here for the federal register and full background. Bobbi

EPA to Strengthen Oversight of Pesticide’s Impact

on Children and Farmworkers

Release date: 12/08/2009

Contact Information: Dale Kemery kemery.dale@... 202-564-7839 202-564-4355;

En español: Lina Younes / younes.lina@...

202-564-9924, 202-564-4355

FOR

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 8,

2009

WASHINGTON – The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency plans to strengthen its assessment of pesticide

health risks. EPA’s proposal would include a more thorough assessment of risks

to workers, including farmworkers and farm children, as well as risks posed by

pesticides that are not used on food. The agency is asking the public to comment

on the new approach and how best to implement the improvements.

EPA

Administrator P. has made it a top priority to ensure that the

agency is working to protect Americans. She said: “Better information and

applying these tools will strengthen EPA’s protections for farm workers exposed

to these chemicals, and children living in and around the areas of highest

possible exposure,” said EPA Administrator P. . “It’s essential we

have the tools to keep everyone, especially vulnerable populations like

children, safe from the serious health consequences of pesticide exposure.”

Under the

policy, EPA risk assessments for children, farmworkers and others, would

consider aggregate pesticide exposures from all sources in addition to the

cumulative effects from multiple pesticides that have similar toxicity. EPA

also would apply an additional safety factor to protect infants and children

from the risks of pesticides where the available data are incomplete. Currently

these analyses help assess risks of pesticides to the general public as

required by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

EPA believes

that pesticide exposure should be evaluated with common scientific

risk-assessment techniques, whether from residues in food or drinking water, on

lawns or in swimming pools, or in the workplace. The agency would routinely

apply the techniques to workers exposed to pesticide exposures on the job. By

incorporating these risk-assessment tools into its pesticide evaluations, the

agency would more thoroughly protect the most vulnerable populations, including

farm workers and children taken into agricultural fields.

The proposed

policy will be available for a 60-day public comment period after it is

published in the Federal Register. See line 4 of this email for the

link to the federal register.

More

information on the proposed policy: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/worker-rsk-assmnt.html

Bobbi Ryder

President & CEO

National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc.

1770 FM 967

Buda, TX

(512) 312-5453 direct line

(512) 312-5451 Mendoza , Assistant

(512) 312-2600

www.ncfh.org