DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL

March 14, 2007

Pesticide education programs target fern workers

By BRITTNEY BOOTH
Staff Writer

DeLEON SPRINGS -- Farmworker advocacy groups have launched a campaign to educate workers about pesticide exposure and report growers who violate pesticide regulations.

The National Farmworkers Ministry of Florida and the Florida Farmworkers Association are interviewing fern cutters and agricultural workers to collect information about their working conditions as part of an enforcement project, said Roberta Perry, the ministry's Florida director.

The groups are collecting anecdotal information about pesticide exposure, sanitation and working conditions in Northwest Volusia and in Homestead. If they find violations of state or federal laws concerning worker conditions and safety, they plan to file complaints with the Florida Department of Agriculture, which accepts complaints filed by third parties.

The department, which enforces federal and state pesticide regulations, would then send inspectors to the sites to verify the information, Perry said.

"Even though we have good pesticide laws, we have a lack of enforcement," Perry said.
More childbearing-age women are working in the fern fields, and advocates warn that exposure to pesticides could lead to miscarriages and birth defects.

"We are trying to document this," Perry said. "First we are gathering the data, then we will use it."

The Farmworkers Association is also training workers on how to protect themselves against pesticide exposure, using a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency training program.

On Tuesday, about a dozen women at the Malloy Headstart Center in DeLeon Springs learned about the symptoms of pesticide exposure and how to prevent poisoning.

Marcos Crisanto, the association's Pierson coordinator, also told the women that growers have to provide a bathroom within a quarter of a mile of the fields, cold water to drink and water to wash their hands.

"We don't think it is just for people to work in the fields without a bathroom or without water," he said.

Faryds Paulino has heard fern workers complain of swollen arms and itchy skin. Yet on her first day on the job in a DeLeon Springs fernery, her boss gave her an instructional video warning about pesticide exposure. She was also instructed to wash her hands after working in the fields.

"Many people talk about the skin inflammation," she said. "The chemicals are very strong."