BILL REQ. #:  H-1267.1 

Read first time 02/08/2005.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     AN ACT Relating to agricultural worker safety and health in the use of highly toxic pesticides; adding a new chapter to Title 49 RCW; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The purpose of this chapter is to protect Washington farm workers from highly toxic pesticides in the workplace. The legislature finds that:
     (1) Certain pesticides dispersed in Washington workplaces are highly toxic even in small amounts. Exposure to these pesticides may result in severe illness and may cause long-lasting effects;
     (2) There are less toxic substitutes for many highly toxic pesticides;
     (3) Principles of workplace safety support the substitution of less toxic materials or alternative practices, where available, in order to protect workers from exposure to highly toxic substances; and
     (4) Principles of workplace safety should be applied to the handling and dispersed use of highly toxic pesticides by requiring substitution of less toxic substances or alternative practices, where available, and by promoting the development of alternative substances or practices in cases where they are not currently available.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1)(a) "Category one highly toxic pesticide" means a pesticide determined by the director to:
     (i) Have an inhalation LD-50 of 0.2 milligrams per liter or less for a period of one hour;
     (ii) Have a dermal LD-50 of two hundred milligrams per kilogram or less;
     (iii) Have an oral LD-50 of fifty milligrams per kilogram or less;
     (iv) Be corrosive to the eyes, or cause corneal opacity not reversible within seven days; or
     (v) Be corrosive to the skin.
     (b) For purposes of this subsection, the director may rely upon the determination by another state or federal agency that a pesticide meets the toxicity criteria described in this subsection.
     (2)(a) "Category two highly toxic pesticide" means an organophosphate or N-methyl-carbamate pesticide determined by the director to:
     (i) Have an inhalation LD-50 of greater than 0.2 milligrams per liter and up to two milligrams per liter for a period of one hour;
     (ii) Have a dermal LD-50 of greater than two hundred milligrams per kilogram and up to two thousand milligrams per kilogram;
     (iii) Have an oral LD-50 of greater than fifty milligrams per kilogram and up to five hundred milligrams per kilogram; or
     (iv) Cause severe irritation to the eyes or skin seventy-two hours after application.
     (b) For purposes of this subsection, the director may rely upon the determination by another state or federal agency that a pesticide meets the toxicity criteria described in this subsection.
     (3) "Closed system" means a procedure for removing a pesticide from its original container, rinsing the emptied container, and transferring the pesticide product, mixtures and dilutions and rinse solution through connecting hoses, pipes, and couplings that are sufficiently tight to prevent exposure of a person to the pesticide or rinse solution, or through water soluble packets.
     (4) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and industries.
     (5) "Dispersed use" means the intentional application of a highly toxic pesticide by aircraft, power blast equipment, sprayer, or other means to disseminate the pesticide in the workplace.
     (6) "Labor-intensive crop" means a crop requiring substantial hand labor for planting, thinning, cultivating, pruning, harvesting, or other agricultural activities. "Labor-intensive crops" include but are not limited to apples, cherries, peaches, berries, hops, grapes, asparagus, pears, plums, nectarines, onions, cucumbers, cauliflower, and squash. By virtue of mechanization, crops such as, but not limited to, wheat, oats, and barley are excluded unless substantial hand labor is used.
     (7) "LD-50" means a median lethal dose or concentration.
     (8) "Pesticide" means, but is not limited to:
     (a) A substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, control, repel, or mitigate insects, rodents, snails, slugs, fungi, weeds, and other forms of plant or animal life or virus, except a virus on or in a living person or animal, that is normally considered to be a pest or that the director may declare to be a pest;
     (b) A substance or mixture of substances intended to be used as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant; or
     (c) A spray adjuvant.
     (9) "Severe economic hardship" means economic circumstances that create a serious threat to the existence or competitive structure of the industry.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The director shall provide for restrictions on the use of highly toxic pesticides identified under this chapter in accordance with RCW 49.17.050(4). The restrictions must ensure, using the best available evidence, that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity even if the employee has regular exposure to these pesticides during his or her working life.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Except as provided in sections 5 and 9 of this act, no employer, or employee or agent of the employer, may disperse the following pesticides in a labor-intensive crop:
     (1) Category one highly toxic pesticides after January 1, 2008;
     (2) Category two highly toxic pesticides after January 1, 2010; and
     (3) Highly toxic pesticides identified under section 6 of this act after January 1, 2012.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   (1) The director may authorize the dispersed use of a highly toxic pesticide on a labor-intensive crop if the director finds by rule after a public hearing in accordance with RCW 34.05.325 that prohibition of the dispersed use of a highly toxic pesticide is likely to cause severe economic hardship to a substantial portion of the affected industry, and that no feasible alternative substances or practices are available.
     (2) If the director authorizes an extension of the dispersed use of a highly toxic pesticide, the director shall impose additional mitigation measures or limit the time period of such extension in order to protect agricultural workers.
     (3) If the director authorizes an extension of the dispersed use of a highly toxic pesticide, the director shall immediately notify appropriate research institutions and programs of the state, including the University of Washington and Washington State University, in order to facilitate research into alternative substances and practices.
     (4) This section expires January 1, 2015.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   (1) By January 1, 2007, the director shall review agricultural pesticides used on labor-intensive crops in Washington state and develop a list of highly toxic pesticides that should be restricted under section 4(3) of this act because of the acute, chronic, or subchronic health hazards they pose. The list shall include, at a minimum, all pesticide products containing known, likely, or probable carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, or developmental toxicants, as active ingredients.
     (2) The director may rely upon the determination by another state or federal agency that a pesticide meets the toxicity criteria described in this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   When new pesticides are registered for use in the state of Washington, the director shall determine whether they are highly toxic pesticides under this chapter, and shall prohibit the use of such pesticides on labor-intensive crops pursuant to this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   (1) After January 1, 2006, no agricultural employer shall allow any employee to transfer, mix, or load a pesticide designated as a category one or category two highly toxic pesticide, if the pesticide is in liquid form or diluted liquid mixes derived from dry pesticides, except through a closed system.
     (2) After January 1, 2006, no employer shall allow employees to plant, thin, prune, harvest, cultivate, or perform other hand labor on labor-intensive crops treated with highly toxic pesticides unless the employer provides the employees with gloves that meet requirements established in rule by the director to limit pesticide exposure among employees performing hand labor in labor-intensive crops.
     (3) After January 1, 2006, the director shall adopt by rule any mitigation measures in addition to those required in subsections (1) and (2) of this section, if the director determines such measures are necessary and feasible under section 3 of this act before such use is terminated in accordance with section 4 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   An institution of higher education that is otherwise authorized to use highly toxic pesticides may use these materials for research purposes only.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   Sections 1 through 9 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 49 RCW.