Month: January 2018

Trump’s EPA could allow teenage workers to handle dangerous pesticides

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by Doris Cellarius, Sierra Club Grassroots Network, 1/11/18, from Huffington Post. See both sites for links to more info.

If the Environmental Protection Agency follows through with a reform now under consideration, teenage farmworkers and other working minors would once again be allowed to handle dangerous pesticides while on the job.

The EPA is now reevaluating a 2015 rule that tightened safety standards for farmworkers. In particular, the agency is considering changing or scrapping the requirement that anyone working with pesticides in agriculture be at least 18 years old.

Doctors had called for those restrictions to be put in place because pesticides can increase the risk of cancer or impact brain development in children.

The EPA may also tweak or do away with the age requirements of another recent rule, which spells out who can be certified to be an applicator of the chemicals that the EPA classifies as the most toxic. That could make it legal for minors to work with what are known as “restricted-use” pesticides, like arsenic and methyl bromide, in a host of industries beyond just agriculture, such as landscaping and pest control.

Restricted-use pesticides are not sold to the public for general use because of how dangerous they can be to people and the environment.

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Saving the Environment: Pennsylvania to Paris

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“Saving the Environment: Pennsylvania to Paris”: Feb. 25 2-4 p.m. panel on environmental and climate change at Unitarian Congregation, 501 S High St West Chester, PA 19382.

Environment, because we can’t do without it and must preserve it to preserve ourselves.

Pennsylvania, because that is where we are and can bring about change, and because Pennsylvania remains one of the most polluting states.

Paris, because the countries of the world came together in the 2015 Paris Agreement to pull the world back from increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Speakers will be:

Dianne Herrin, energy usage specialist, mayor of West Chester

Chrissy Houlahan, founding COO of B-Lab (a nonprofit that promotes corporations that consider the public welfare); candidate for US Congress

Richard Whiteford, Climate Change Adviser and Board Member: World Information Transfer NGO, United Nations; participant, Paris Conference on climate, 2015

Audience questions will be channeled through 3 local figures with interest in the field: Jessica Cadorette, Matt Holliday, and Elizabeth Moro.

Hosted by Unitarian Congregation. Co-sponsored by Don’t Spray Me!, West Chester Co-op, West Chester Sustainability Advisory Committee. Refreshments provided by the West Chester Co-op.

Park on a nearby street or in the Sharpless Street Garage, 25 Sharpless St.

No RSVP needed, but for more information, contact Margaret at mhudgings@gmail.com.

Download pdf here to share with friends: Saving envt PA to Paris 2-25