{"id":34940,"date":"2024-03-29T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=34940"},"modified":"2024-03-29T10:24:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T14:24:10","slug":"bill-seeks-to-eliminate-inequities-for-child-farmworkers-but-leaves-weak-epa-pesticide-standards-in-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/03\/bill-seeks-to-eliminate-inequities-for-child-farmworkers-but-leaves-weak-epa-pesticide-standards-in-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Seeks to Eliminate Inequities for Child Farmworkers, But Leaves Weak EPA Pesticide Standards in Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, March 29, 2024) Last week during National Agriculture Week, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM) introduced S.4038<\/a>, the Children\u2019s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety\u00a0<\/em>(CARE), aiming to elevate labor standards for young workers in the agricultural sector, as protection from pesticides remains weak. Currently, agriculture stands as the sole industry that permits children\u2014as young as 12 years old\u2014to work without significant limits on their hours of employment outside of school time. This scenario is a reality for hundreds of thousands of children across the U.S., who undertake the demanding tasks of planting, harvesting, processing, and packaging the food produced nationwide.<\/p>\n

The CARE Act proposes to align the age and working hour criteria for underage workers in agriculture with those enforced in other sectors. Additionally, the legislation seeks to toughen both civil and criminal penalties for violations of child labor laws and to enhance safeguards for children against the risks of pesticide exposure. It is important to note, however, that the CARE Act would exempt farm-owning families, allowing their children to work on the family farm under the current guidelines.<\/p>\n

Exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act<\/a><\/em> (FLSA) currently allow children to work unlimited hours,<\/a>\u00a0outside of school \u00a0hours, in \u201cnon-hazardous\u201d agricultural at the age of 12 and child farmworkers may perform may perform any agricultural job, including hazardous work, as of the age of 16. These exemptions apply only to farm labor and are significantly less stringent<\/a> than laws applying to other sectors. 400,000-500,000 children and youth between the ages of 12-17 are estimated<\/a> to be working in U.S. agriculture, with children ages 12-13 permitted to work in agriculture outside of school hours. Children ages 14-15 may work in nonagricultural jobs only with strict limitations on time of day and hours per week, but may work in agriculture outside of school hours without any restrictions. S.4038<\/a> will make the restrictions for agriculture child labor consistent with non-agriculture labor. Note: The CARE Act would not apply to the children of farmers working on their family farm. <\/em><\/p>\n

Related legislation, the Fairness for Farm Workers Act<\/em> (H.R. 4579<\/a>\/S. 2253<\/a>), introduced in 2023 by U.S. Representative Ra\u00fal Grijalva (D-AZ) and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), would amend FLSA\u00a0to provide overtime and additional minimum wage protections for farm workers. Upon introduction, Senator Padilla said, \u201cIt\u2019s past time we correct our nation\u2019s labor laws to include the farm workers who have been unjustly excluded from protections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disproportionate Impact and \u201cAgricultural Exceptionalism\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Creating true equity for farmworkers and specifically farmworker children, advocates point out, would require an overhaul of the laws governing pesticide use and exposure. Current law governing pesticide registration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is challenged as not adequately protective. The Food Quality Protection Act<\/em> (FQPA<\/a>), which amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act<\/em> (FIFRA<\/a>) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act<\/em> (FFDCA<\/a>), specifically excludes occupational exposure to pesticides from the calculation of cumulative or aggregate health risk from dietary and nondietary exposure. This means that children\u2019s exposure to pesticides while employed in agriculture is excluded when determining the acceptable rates of their overall pesticide exposure. The statutory language of FQPA requires EPA to evaluate all exposure to the residues in food, water, and land of pesticides with a \u201ccommon mechanism of toxicity<\/a>\u201d (e.g., families of chemicals like organophosphates and synthetic pyrethroids), but does not require that occupational exposure be included in that calculation.<\/p>\n

A report released<\/a> in January,\u00a0US pesticide regulation is failing the hardest-hit communities. It\u2019s time to fix it<\/a><\/em>, finds \u201cpeople of color and low-income communities in the United States and around the world continue to shoulder the societal burden of harmful pollution.\u201d More specifically, the authors state that \u201congoing environmental injustice is the disproportionate impact these communities suffer from pesticides, among the most widespread environmental pollutants.\u201d The report, which follows an\u00a0earlier article<\/a> (see\u00a0earlier coverage<\/a>), documents the long history of \u201cagricultural exceptionalism<\/a>,\u201d whereby agriculture is specifically excluded from many U.S. labor and occupational safety laws, can exacerbate the well-documented pesticide risks that farmworkers face on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is the CARE ACT?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CARE Act revises FLSA to update agricultural child labor age and work hour standards to match those for non-agricultural child labor, while still maintaining exemptions for family farms, 4-H, and educational or vocational programs that promote agricultural careers.<\/p>\n

Key points in the legislation:<\/em><\/p>\n