Protecting Children Where They Work
Questions on Pesticides?
- National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC)
1-800-858-7378
How can I:
How EPA is
Children can be exposed to work-related pesticides in several ways:
- On-the-job exposure, as when kids work in agricultural settings.
- Parents may bring their children to work with them, where pesticides have been or are being applied.
- There may also be second-hand exposure to children of agricultural workers through spray drift or residue on the parents’ clothing.
We are reducing potential pesticide exposures to kids by:
- Strengthening our assessment of pesticide health risks, including a more thorough assessment of risks to workers (including farmworkers and farm children) and risks posed by pesticides that are not used on food.
- Providing public service announcements (PSAs) to Spanish-language radio stations to educate parents about the hazards of bringing pesticide residues home.
- Working with migrant and worker advocates, states, and farm groups on ways to encourage parents to send their children to school and not bring them to the fields where the parents work.