ORLANDO SENTINEL

October 6, 2007

Workers to learn about poison

The Farmworker Association of Florida gets a grant to train fern cutters on pesticide risks.

Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer

A Florida farmworker-advocacy group based in Apopka was awarded $50,000 by the federal government Friday to train low-paid agricultural workers and health-care providers on how to lessen the risks of pesticide poisoning.

The two-year grant, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will help several thousand Central Florida field hands who harvest ferns commonly used in flower arrangements.

Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida, said laws protecting the state's 10,000 fern cutters from agricultural chemicals are too often forgotten by fernery operators and are a mystery to many workers.

"Sometimes we know when pesticides have been used on ferns," said Israel Bocanegra, 20, who works in the Central Florida fernery region of Lake, Volusia and Flagler counties. "Sometimes we don't."

Moreno said the grant will pay for training fern cutters in ways to avoid pesticides, with either protective clothing or through knowledge of how long freshly sprayed chemicals should be avoided. The training also will address recognizing rashes, headaches and other symptoms of short-term and chronic ailments.

The 1 1/2-hour sessions will be held evenings and weekends because workers, who earn about $50 daily, are paid according to the amount of ferns they cut in a shift.

"It's very intense work," Moreno said. "They don't have time for training about pesticides, and owners rarely make time."

Doctors and other health workers at neighborhood clinics also will be taught how to ask ill workers questions about potential pesticide exposure.

Joe Strickland of Alpha Fern in Pierson said he teaches pesticide precautions to workers and takes many other steps to keep them away from toxic levels.

"They don't just go out into any field. We tell them where to go," Strickland said. "We need those people, and we don't want anybody getting sick."

Davina Marraccini, an EPA spokeswoman in Atlanta, said fern workers face risks.

"Because cultivation requires a lot of handling there is a potential for greater exposure," Marraccini said.

The EPA grant was among 20 announced Friday for nonprofit groups across the country that deal with health and environmental issues.