Organophosphates, Friend and Foe: The Promise of Medical Monitoring for Farm Workers and Their Families

ABSTRACT Millions of farm workers nation-wide who load, mix and/or apply pesticides are exposed to incredible amounts of pesticides on a daily basis. Various inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the regulatory system--including insufficient illness reporting data systems, lack of regulatory compliance and enforcement, and inadequate data and information on the chronic effects of exposure and overexposure to various pesticides--increase the likelihood that these workers will continue to be exposed to dangerous amounts of pesticides. This Article assesses the existing mechanisms designed to protect farm workers from occupational exposure to pesticides and identifies and analyzes some of the shortcomings of the regulatory system. It focuses on the class of pesticides known as organophosphates and examines the impact that such pesticides can have on farm workers as well as on their families. It then evaluates the State of Washington's medical monitoring rule, and recommends implementation of a federal medical monitoring program as a means of protecting all American farm workers from the dangers of pesticide overexposure. I. INTRODUCTION II. ORGANOPHOSPHATE BACKGROUND A. Importance of Organophosphates B. Concerns Over Organophosphates III. EXPOSURE BY SENSITIVE SUBPOPULATIONS A. Concern for Farm Worker Exposure B. Exposure by Children of Farm Workers IV. THE WASHINGTON STATE MEDICAL MONITORING CASE A. Medical Monitoring Rule B. Opponents of the Rule C. Initial Results V. IMPROVING FARM WORKER PROTECTIONS A. Determining Risks B. The Pesticide Industry C. History of Legislation D. Recommendations for a National Medical Monitoring Rule E. Additional Protection Outside the Medical Monitoring Rule VI. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION In 1999, a healthy fifteen-year-old migrant farm worker named Jose Casillas left his home in Mexico for the orchards of central Utah hoping to earn enough to support his family in Mexico. (1) A few months after his arrival, Casillas was sprayed by an applicator-tractor with Guthion Solupak, a pesticide similar to Sarin. (2) Earlier that same week, Casillas had been sprayed with other pesticides--which he believed to be only water--while he was working in the field. (3) After the first field exposure, Casillas suffered intense headaches. After the second exposure, Casillas began to vomit, sweat excessively and suffer with diarrhea. (4) Despite being ill, Casillas attempted to ride his bike to work the next morning but lost consciousness and collapsed. By the time medical help arrived, he was dead, "with foam streaming from his nose." (5) There are legal protections that are supposed to prevent tragedies like this. For instance, it is illegal to spray pesticides when workers are in fields, and farmers are supposed to be informed about, and take preventative steps to protect against, pesticide poisoning. (6) Moreover, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7) requires states to certify pesticide applicators who use restricted-use pesticides and anyone who commercially sells, distributes, or applies pesticide products. (8) Additionally, FIFRA standards require that an individual be deemed "competent" before they can be formally certified to use or handle pesticides. (9) Sadly for Casillas, and many other farm workers across the United States, these "regulatory guarantees" are not enough. Despite such protections, millions of farm workers nationwide who load, mix and apply pesticides are exposed to incredible amounts of pesticides every day. They can be exposed through direct handling of pesticide products, daily work around recently treated areas, contaminated and often inadequate clothing, and inhalation of airborne pesticides drifting in the winds. Occasionally, farm workers, like Casillas, suffer direct exposure. …