10 Kauai agribusiness workers taken to hospital after exposure to pesticide
A West Kauai agribusiness operation sent 10 farm workers to the hopsital Wednesday after they were exposed to a pesticide that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering banning.
Josh Uyehara, Syngenta station manager on Kauai, said some workers on Wednesday entered a cornfield that had been sprayed 20 hours earlier with the pesticide. The recommended wait period for the pesticide is 24 hours.
The field had been sprayed with chlorpyrifos, which goes by the brand name Lorsban. Within a few minutes of being on site, a manager informed the farm workers that they should not have entered the area, ushered them out and offered immediate access to medical care, Uyehara said.
Ten workers were taken by company vehicles to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea, where some were treated and released that day. Others were kept overnight for observation, Uyehara said. Some have since returned to work, but others are expected to return Monday. He would disclose information about any symptoms they experienced, citing health privacy laws.
Chlorpyrifos can overstimulate the nervous system, causing nausea, dizziness, confusion and, at very high exposures, respiratory paralysis and death, the EPA says.
7 responses to “10 Kauai agribusiness workers taken to hospital after exposure to pesticide”
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Could have been the innocent school kids if the wind carried it there. Have to be careful with a chemical that affects the central nervous system.
Exactly.
Wow! Are those big GMO companies really so powerful that they can keep their name out of our local newspaper?
Come on SA, we need a real paper. If you’re working for the politicians and corporations, let them pay for the subscriptions.
And now I see that you did mention Syngenta. My apologies SA, I was mistaken and you did do your job properly. I am sorry for the unfair criticism.
“Josh Uyehara, Syngenta station manager on Kauai” has been lying and covering-up for Syngenta, Pioneer, Monsanto, et al for many years. He and a whole tribe of paid-Protagonists have been covering-up multiple malfeasances which directly endanger children on Kauai… None of them have any conscience whatsoever and are sociopaths on the payrolls of Syngenta, Pioneer, Monsanto, et al… Very bad people… The only politician who has had the fortitude to fight and expose these evil-monsters is Gary Hoosier.
Read the labels. That stuff [pesticide] is poison to lots of living things. Some manager told those guys to go into the fields … big mistake! Wash your food well … reduced concentrations are mot good for you! Ever wonder how much of this stuff [and its by products] runs off in the rain and ends up in our drinking water and the ocean? I wonder about the difference between living soil and poisoned soil.
Glad the manager was pro-active.
But, this is another example of why we should all demand organic. Those pesticides are eventually consumed by the buyer, even if in smaller quantities. (BTW, what are the odd that corn is genetically modifies, too?)
Organic!