Yesterday, Migrant Clinicians Network and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) discussed their current review of the Worker Protection Standard (WPS). The WPS is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation protecting farmworkers across the US from pesticide exposure.
MCN’s Amy K. Liebman, MA, MPA, Director of Environmental and Occupational Health, along with Rosemary Sokas, MD, MOH, the Chair of MCN’s Board of Directors, and Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH, Director of the National Farm Medicine Center expressed to the OMB the importance of the specific measures within the ruling and underscored the direct effects the updated WPS would have on worker health and safety.
Review by the OMB is one of the last steps before the revised WPS receives approval by the EPA. “MCN has worked for more than 20 years for stronger worker protections -- and we are excited that the revised WPS will soon be unveiled,” said Liebman. “We are awaiting the final version of the revised Worker Protection Standard, and we look forward to working closely with the EPA and other partners to ensure swift implementation and strong enforcement of the rule, which we believe will assist in reducing the number of pesticide overexposures.”
MCN submitted extensive comments to EPA in August 2014. For more information about the WPS, visit our Worker Protection Standard [2] page.