United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-03-14 monographic deposited born digital 39 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-40 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40 P0b002ee180376b7e f:rc00040 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40 RCED-00-40 Labor law Agricultural industry Health hazards Occupational safety Children Safety standards Pesticides Environmental monitoring Pesticide regulation Medical information systems DOL National Agricultural Workers Survey EPA Worker Protection Standard NIOSH Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks Program California Texas Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on issues related to the safety of children who may be exposed to pesticides in agricultural settings, focusing on: (1) what federal requirements govern the safe use of pesticides, particularly as they relate to protecting children in agricultural settings; (2) what information is available on the acute and chronic effects of agricultural pesticide exposure, particularly on children; and (3) what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done to ensure that its Worker Protection Standard considers the needs of children and is being adequately implemented and enforced.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) two laws principally govern the safe use of pesticides: (a) the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which requires that pesticides be approved by EPA for specified uses; and (b) the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which regulates the residues of pesticides on or in foods; (2) in 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act amended these two laws, requiring EPA to reevaluate the amount of pesticide residues allowed on or in food, taking into account consumers' aggregate exposure from other sources, including residential exposures; (3) EPA is generally required to apply an additional margin of safety in setting limits on pesticide residues to ensure the safety of food for infants and children; (4) EPA must also consider any available information concerning "major identifiable subgroups of consumers" in reevaluating the amount of pesticide residues that can remain on or in foods; (5) in October 1998, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others petitioned EPA to identify children living on and near farms as a major identifiable subgroup for the purposes of the Food Quality Protection Act; (6) in its initial response, EPA said it was funding several studies aimed at assessing the effects of farm children's exposure to pesticides; (7) comprehensive information on acute and chronic health effects due to pesticide exposure does not exist, and data sources to track acute--short term--pesticide illnesses are incomplete and have limitations that result in the underestimation of both the frequency and the severity of such illnesses; (8) a number of federally sponsored studies are under way related to the chronic effects of pesticide exposure, but it will be many years before conclusive results from these studies are known; (9) EPA implemented the Worker Protection Standard to reduce farmworkers' exposure to pesticides; (10) according to EPA, one of the most important protections afforded by the Standard is the time intervals between when the pesticides are applied and when workers may enter treated areas; (11) these entry intervals were designed for adults and children 12 years and older; (12) EPA has little assurance the protections in the Standard are being provided at all; and (13) GAO found EPA regions have been inconsistent in whether they set goals for the number of worker protection inspections states should conduct, in defining what constitutes a worker protection inspection, and in the extent to which they oversee and monitor states' implementation and enforcement of the Standard. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40.pdf GAO/RCED-00-40 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-40 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-40; Pesticides: Improvements Needed to Ensure the Safety of; Labor law Agricultural industry Health hazards Occupational safety Children Safety standards Pesticides Environmental monitoring Pesticide regulation Medical information systems DOL National Agricultural Workers Survey EPA Worker Protection Standard NIOSH Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks Program California Texas