Studies look at chemical exposure of European ag workers
More than 40 trade unionists from 14 European countries attended the European Trade Union Institute's (ETUI) annual seminar on chemical substances held in Dublin on June 25th and 26th. An important focus of this 11th edition of the event was the risks linked to exposure to pesticides in the agriculture sector.
‘Workers in this sector handle a wide range of chemical products on a daily basis but are rarely well informed about the risks entailed’, explained ETUI researcher Tony Musu. ‘What is more, the sector covers so many different kinds of work, from the shepherd isolated in his mountains to the employees in the huge production units run by the giants of the agro-food industry. A high proportion of this workforce consists of migrant and sometimes clandestine workers and there exist numerous obstacles to the introduction of effective prevention policies,’ he added.