Although most pesticide use is in agriculture, more than two-thirds of occupational pesticide illness cases in California during 1991 were from nonagricultural uses, according to a report released in May by the Cal/EPA Department of Pesticide Regulation. Of the 1,804 reported illnesses with a confirmed or potential link to pesticide use that year, 1,675 occurred on the job. Illnesses occurring outside the workplace, however, are probably more seriously under-reported.
Nonagricultural pesticide illnesses typically were caused by exposure to disinfectants in restaurants, janitorial companies, municipal water treatment plants, swimming pools, and hospitals. The two deaths in 1991 related to pesticide exposure were both cases in which the "victims" entered locked buildings where signs had been posted warning that the structure was being fumigated with methyl bromide [a victim of our school system? - ed]. A copy of the report is available from the DPR Worker Health and Safety Branch, 1020 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 445-4222.
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