Pesticide testing ahead for many state farmworkers. In the first week of December 2003, the US state Department of Labor and Industries is expected to adopt rules requiring blood samples from workers who handle certain pesticides.
The rules are aimed at protecting workers from a class of pesticides called organophosphates and carbamates. Both compounds affect the central nervous system by depressing cholinesterase, an enzyme that helps regulate the nervous system.
By 2005, the regulation could cover about 3,000 people.
Read the Article in the Seattle Times.
