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Farmworker Justice Files Comments in Support of Bilingual Pesticide Labeling

Health & Safety - Pesticide Safety

Farmworker Justice filed comments today with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of requiring pesticide labels to include Spanish translations. The EPA is considering this proposal in response to a petition by Farmworker Justice and the Migrant Clinicians Network. The comments were filed on behalf of a diverse coalition of 55 farmworker, environmental, labor, and civil rights organizations, and we urge the EPA to take this long-overdue step to protect farmworkers’ health and the environment.

Pesticide labels communicate crucial information, including warnings and precautionary statements, first aid instructions, what personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn, and directions for safe use. Currently, most agricultural pesticide labels are only in English. However, the majority of farmworkers are native Spanish speakers, and over half of them cannot read English.  When farmworkers cannot read safety instructions, they are at higher risk for pesticide exposure, and their communities are at risk for pesticide contamination resulting from improper use of the chemicals.

Language barriers are significant factor in pesticide exposure.  In a recent study in Washington State, pesticide handlers who could not read English were more likely to be exposed to pesticides than those who could read English. In addition, farmworkers need to be able to read pesticide labels in case of emergencies.

“For far too long, farmworkers, their families, and their communities have suffered needless and avoidable injury and environmental damage as a result of not having access to pesticide safety information in the language that they can read and comprehend,” said Bruce Goldstein, President of Farmworker Justice.  “Now is the time for the EPA to correct this serious regulatory shortcoming.”

Manufacturers routinely translate pesticide labels into Spanish to export their products to Mexico and other Latin American countries, and they already translate labels on Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs) in order to sell them in Puerto Rico. The cost of translating safety directions on pesticide labels is slight in comparison with the human health and environmental costs. Farmworker Justice urges the EPA to require Spanish labelling of pesticides immediately in order to avoid any further injury to workers and their communities.