EVERYDAY DANGERS: NEW EPA RULES AIMED AT REDUCING PESTICIDE EXPOSURE

New Environmental Protection Agency rules governing the handling of pesticides are about to change the way many farmers farm.

The regulations, adopted in August after eight years of wrangling between the EPA and the Agriculture Department, require new detailed labeling of pesticides.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 compounds now sold as pesticides will be relabeled with the aim of driving down the incidence of human exposure.

The labels, due in April, will instruct farmers and farm workers in the types of protective equipment that must be worn. Notices must be posted in Spanish and English warning workers of pesticide risks.

Laborers will be barred from entering fields for 12 to 72 hours after spraying, depending on the pesticide used.

The EPA estimates the new regulations, which will be phased in over a two-year period, could prevent 10,000 to 20,000 pesticide-related illnesses and injuries every year.

A recent study showing a higher incidence of non-Hodgkin's Disease cancers in farmers has raised questions about whether pesticides are a contributing factor.

"There are some forms of cancer that have been fairly well identified with pesticide poisoning a number of leukemias," says David Baker, coordinator of Extension safety and health programs for the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"...The dangers are not unknown to us," he said.

But the EPA has not said how information about the new pesticide rules will be disseminated.

"The biggest void I see is what the EPA is going to do to educate farmers," Baker said.

Anticipating that the job will fall to the state Extension services, Baker is at work now on developing educational materials that explain the new regulations.

The farmers most affected by the new rules will be those who use a lot of hand labor. In Southeast Missouri, those are mostly farms which grow berries or grapes.

But, Baker cautions, the regulations apply to "all farms that use pesticides."

Enforcement of the regulations will fall to the Missouri Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Pesticide Control. Program Coordinator Paul Andre says the state will depend heavily upon complaints, as it now does. But he does not rule out the possibility that inspection programs may be instituted.

The bureau currently has nine field investigators throughout the state.

It has mailed summaries of the regulations to community groups and to University of Missouri Extension field staff. Plans are to include information about the new regulations in the pesticide applicator training the state regularly provides for both commercial and private farm operations.

"We are trying to get the information out and not confuse everybody," Andre said.

Although some exemptions from the new regulations apply, both Baker and Andre said the rules are in the best interest of everyone.

"If it was my family on my farm, I would make sure this was done for them," said Andre.

Attempts to decrease the amounts of pesticides used by the American farmer have led to integrated pest management programs and to the development of crops that are genetically resistant to pests.

But Baker says farmers are caught in a Catch-22. "We have the most efficient production industry in the world. We've done that based on good management and crop-pattern use, the use of pesticides and herbicides.

"Now the question becomes: How can we effectively use pesticides and herbicides and not pollute the environment, and put out a safe and healthy crop?"

Ironically, the much admired streak of independence that runs through most farmers makes it more difficult to change dangerous farming habits that may have been handed down from generation to generation, Baker says.

Farmers' lives are filled with uncertainties the weather, volatile markets and swarms of hungry insects are just a few.

"They're risking everything for their family," Baker said. "It's not an 8-to-5 job, and there's a lot of risk to it.

"My job is showing farmers there are economic reasons for following the new regulations."