Federal, state agencies coordinating efforts

LIHUE — Two government agencies are coordinating an investigation after some Syngenta workers were hospitalized last week after they were exposed to the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

Dean Higuchi, Environmental Protection Agency spokesman, said his regional office was working with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to review the incident.

On Jan. 20, 10 Syngenta employees entered a field too soon after it had been sprayed with chlorpyrifos. They were taken to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital. Seven employees were released from the hospital later that day, and three stayed overnight. All employees were back to work by Monday.

An HDOA spokeswoman said she wouldn’t comment on specifics of the investigation, but said the agency had reported the incident to the EPA.

Syngenta officials met last Thursday to review procedures and policies. An internal investigation is ongoing.

“The only immediate change is to insure that field re-entry procedures are a standing agenda item on the daily safety briefing,” said Beth Tokioka, spokeswoman for Syngenta. “Any changes to protocol would be considered at the conclusion of the investigation.”

Syngenta’s Hawaii Site Manager Joshua Uyehara previously told The Garden Island some Syngenta workers walked onto the field sprayed with chlorpyrifos at its Kekaha site before the 24-hour waiting period required by the pesticide’s label. It had been about 20 hours, he said.

A field supervisor noticed the employees on the field about 10 to 15 minutes after they entered it and told them to leave. Employees were taken to the office, cleaned up and taken to the hospital.

Syngenta also notified the Hawaii Department of Occupational Safety and Health after the incident, but that agency could not be reached for comment Thursday.

As of Oct. 30, 2015, the EPA is considering a total ban on the use of chlorpyrifos. The ban comes 15 years after a residential ban of the chemical.

It has already banned most of the indoor use of chlorpyrifos and is now looking to remove or revoke the tolerances on outdoor use because of concerns about drinking water and small, vulnerable watersheds, Higachi said.

The comment period ended on Jan. 5.

Paul Achitoff, an attorney with Earthjustice — a national environmental organization — said the pesticide should not be on the market.

“It’s a very heavily researched chemical,” he said. “Our view is that it should be completely banned. We’re hoping the EPA will go along with that.”

Uyehara said chlorpyrifos is still registered as safe as long as it is used according to its label.

Higuchi said the Syngenta incident “will be added into the mix to be looked at in relation to chlorpyrifos.”

“We’re going to take a look at what happened to this incident and add it into this assessment in terms of what we’re looking at in relation to the chemical chlorpyrifos as to whether or not to continue the registrations,” Higuchi said.

But Achitoff said, “it’s clear that exposure to these chemicals are dangerous to farmworkers and people who live around the area.”

“The only question in our mind is whether the EPA will do the right thing and ban it,” he said.

Syngenta leases roughly 3,600 acres of land and has about 108 full-time employees and 200 contract workers. It could have anywhere from five to 200 contract employees depending on the time of the year, Tokioka said.

The situation could be heating up.

A man parked his vehicle outside Syngenta’s main entrance Tuesday and shouted comments, like “Stop poisoning us. Stop poisoning your workers.”

“Nobody wants you here,” he said in a video posted on Facebook.

A security person at the gate told him to leave, but the man said he was on public property.

By Michelle Iracheta – The Garden Island