With your help, MCN added more than 17,000 voices to the call for stronger workplace protections for our nation's farmworkers.
On Monday August 18, MCN submitted our Clinician Sign-On Letter [2], which outlined 14 critical points to strengthen the proposed changes to the Worker Protection Standard (WPS), to the EPA with 2,343 clinician signatures. Additionally, MCN submitted its petition “Farmworkers Feed the World- Protect them from Pesticides [3],” which collected over 15,100 signatures from the general public who voiced their concerns for the health and safety of farmworkers exposed to pesticides. MCN also submitted technical comments [4] focusing on the need to prepare and equip clinicians to protect workers exposed to pesticides.
"Clinicians play a tremendous role in protecting farmworker health. Both as providers and advocates, your work is essential to health justice," says MCN's Chief Medical Officer, Ed Zuroweste, MD. MCN thanks the clinicians and individuals who supported a strengthened WPS. Your signature made a difference in the health and safety of farmworkers and their families.
MCN also thanks the incredible organizations that worked to ensure that the EPA heard from over 200,000 people including farmworkers, public officials, faith leaders, public health advocates, and the general public about the importance of protecting our nation's farmworkers from pesticide exposure. Our dedicated partners at Earthjustice, Farmworker Association of Florida, Farmworker Justice, Pesticide Action Network of North America, Coming Clean, and so many others inspired us with their determination and commitment to the wellbeing of farmworkers and their families.
MCN will continue our work to strengthen the Worker Protection Standard. "Now that the formal public comment period is closed, we need to focus our attention to ensure EPA promulgates a final rule that truly safeguards the health and safety of the 2 million farmworkers who work tirelessly to put food on our tables," says Amy Liebman, MCN's Director of Environmental and Occupational Health.