On January 27, 2020, EPN submitted comments on EPA’s proposal to amend the Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) requirements under the federal Worker Protection Standard that protect the public and farmworkers from being sprayed by pesticides. The proposed changes would weaken the protection afforded by the AEZ provisions and significantly increase the risks to workers and bystanders of unsafe pesticide applications. In addition, the changes would increase the complexity for applicators and enforcement personnel, while producing negligible regulatory relief. EPN recommends that the bulk of the proposal should be withdrawn until EPA evaluates the real-world, field-level impacts of the AEZ provision.
Read a summary.
Read the comments.