We are outraged about yesterday’s decision by the EPA to postpone the implementation of the Worker Protection Standards and thus put farm worker lives at risk. With this decision more than 2.7 million farm workers, including 500,000 children will be put in danger with antiquated rules that leaves our nation’s farm workers less protected from toxic chemicals than any workers in any other industrial sectors. The EPA’s careless disregard for farm worker lives puts children at risk to handle harmful pesticides, denies worker access to information about the chemicals they’re exposed to and does not give them adequate safety training and does not protect workers if they speak out about pesticide misuse and exposure.
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom