New Pesticide Safety Booklets in Spanish

By Leslie McGuire

Using a format that is very popular these days, a new comic style 32-page booklet has been released by the Western Plant Health Association. Produced first in the early 1990?EUR??,,????'???s to teach farm workers about health and safety issues, this revised edition has all the new information required for training purposes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards are presented, and more importantly, the novella has been approved by the USEPA as appropriate for worker education. Over 250,000 copies of the revised Proteccion De Su Salud have been distributed at no charge since it?EUR??,,????'???s publication, and requests keep pouring in from organizations in California, Arizona and Hawaii.

Targeted research is presently being done at Virginia Tech and Carolina State University to study the cultural issues surrounding communication errors with pesticide use. The increase in agricultural workers who are primarily Spanish speaking, has led to a similar increase in the need to prevent misuse of these products. As the backbone of our nation?EUR??,,????'???s food producers, Spanish-speaking workers need updated, understandable educational materials.

Combining both pictures and words in what is known as the graphic novel format (already very popular in Spanish speaking countries, and getting explosive popularity in the United States, as well), the novella tells the story of a new farm worker. Among the areas covered is the importance of protective clothing, washing work clothes separately from other clothes, and washing hands before eating, smoking, drinking, etc. In addition, the booklet explains why it is important to understand and follow all application regulations, knowing what the symptoms of exposure are, and what workers should do if they have been exposed. For more information visit this important web site.

www.healthyplants.org/novella.htm