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The Citizen, 1989-01-25, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1989. PAGE 5. HI w,. ii 1 PA5AN0 WARNING J BY KEITH ROULSTON Twenty area farmers sat through a horror show in Walton Friday and paid $20 to do it. The farmers were attending one of a number of day-long workshops for the Grower Pesticide Safety Course, a course designed to promote the proper use of pesti­ cides on the farm. Those present were given vivid examples of just how dangerous the farm chemicals they handle are. They were taught, for instance, how to use the Lethal Dose indicator, the LD50 rating of a chemical. They learned that some of the most common farm pesti- Protective clothing can save your cides are so powerful that swallow­ ing less than a teaspoon full is enough to kill a man. John Hazlitt of Benmiller, who was instructor for this course and several others throughout Huron, Bruce and Middlesex, was out to make those taking part aware of how serious the situation is. He called it a “crash course” in pesticide safety and awareness designed to provide education be­ fore legislation comes into place. The course is designed by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture with local courses being sponsored by local farm supply dealers in each community. All told more than 300 courses have been scheduled across the province this winter. The cost this year is $20 per person but the price will likely rise next year to $40. The added incentive for farm­ ers to take part is that talks are currently underway between the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Environ­ ment to institute manditory certifi­ cation of farmers who want to be able to use pesticides. For some farmers the word about Prices rise everywhere BY RAYMOND CANON It doesn’t really matter what country I am in; everywhere there is a slow and sometimes not-so- slow increase in the prices of things that I buy. This, as all my readers will know, is called inflation and our inability to cope with it at the national level the danger involved in the pesti­ cides they routinely handled isn’t half as scary as the prospect of having to write a written, open­ book examination in which they have to get 75 per cent mark or they fail. Whether it’s this reason or something else, Mr. Hazlitt finds the audience especially attentive and generally the groups finish the sessions earlier than the six hours time allotted. The farmers are given plenty to think about when they go back out in the fields this spring to plant their crops. It takes only a table­ spoon full of the same stuff used to hekill corn maggots to kill you, tells the farmers. Yet farmers buy these dangerous chemicals by the bag full and put it into spreaders without giving it a thought. He urges them to look at the LD50 rating on farm chemicals and if they can find one with a better rating (meaning it takes much more of the chemical to kill) that does the same job, they should use it. While swallowing even a tea­ spoon full of a farm chemical might seem unlikely, Mr. Hazlitt shatters complacency by pointing out chem­ icals can also enter the body by being absorbed through the skin, the eyes or having fumes inhaled. In fact, he says, inhalation can be the most deadly of all. If a chemical is spilled on the skin it cap be washed off. If swallowed, vomiting can be induced to lesson the danger. But if you inhale a chemi­ cal, he says, 100 per cent of it stays. You can’t wash out your lungs. It is the lungs that are often overlooked by farmers. Mr. Hazlitt asks how many farmers plant wheat, filling their planters by International Scene. means that we have to work tnat much harder at the personal level to make ends meet. All the time we are trying to do something about it, we continue to complain voci­ ferously about the unfairness of it all. One of the main reasons for these complaints is that the vast majority of people do not really understand what inflation is or what it does. They just know that they don’t like it. First of all, let’s try to define it. When the price of your favourite brand of coffee goes up, that is not inflation. If you discover that you have to pay more for the shoes you in the sun while the using an auger to take the wheat from a truck to the planter. Several put up their hands. He asks how many use a respirator while they do. Few put up their hands. But, he points out, the wheat is treated with organophosphorus in­ secticides and the dust particles stirred up by the auger can enter the lungs and poison the farmer. Use of the proper clothing is a key to prevent poisoning through the handling of farm chemicals, Mr. Hazlitt tells the group. One of three videos shown during the session helps illustrate the benefits clothing afford. Unlined PVC gloves should be worn for handling chemicals be­ cause the chemical can’t get through the skin. Cotton or leather work gloves should not be worn. Likewise, cloth caps with cloth or leather sweatbands can be worse than no cap at all because they can soak up the chemicals and hold it close to the skin where it can be absorbed for hours, even weeks and months later. Coveralls should be worn and if cloth coveralls are used, they should be carefully washed when the job is finished. The video shows soaking the clothing in a prewash, washing twice in hot water then hanging outside washing machine is run through another complete cycle to remove any residual chemical. There are now also plastic dis­ posable suits and aprons that can be used then thrown away. Where fumes or dust from chemicals are present, farmers should wear a respirator, not just one of the paper dust masks. The respirator provides two kinds of filters, one to filter out dust, the other for chemicals. Dealing with concentrated chem­ icals at the time of filling tanks and spreaders is the time of most danger, Mr. Hazlitt tells the group. “The cost of being safe isn’t all that great when you look at the whole scheme of things,” Mr. Hazlitt tells the group. “There are a whole lot of little things we can do.” On hot days people don’t want to dress' up in protective clothing but “it’s your life,” he warns them. Sometimes, however, it isn’t just the farmer’s life that’s at stake. One of the videos, dealing with what to do when there is a poisoning, points out that over half the 3400 pesticide poisonings re­ ported last year happened to children. Farm chemicals should be kept under lock and key or some­ where children can’t possibly get near them. Farm families should be prepar­ ed in case there is a poisoning, the wear, that, too, is not inflation, fhe reason for this is that, at the same time as this may be going on, some of the things you buy are going down in price. All this becomes inflation only when you average them all out and find that, on balance, your income buys less than it did before. We can there­ fore begin by stating that inflation is simply an increase in the general price level with the operative word here being ‘general.’ Canadians have had to cope with double-digit inflation twice in the past 15 years and that jjave them a good insight into the phenomenon G IT video shows. The video shows the proper procedure to follow if there is a poisoning including removing the victim from the contamination and getting medical aid, including keeping the container so doctors can know what remedy to pre­ scribe. For non-petroleum based chemi­ cals, vomiting helps get as much of the chemical out of the system as possible and Mr. Hazlitt recom­ mends each farm medicine cabinet should have Syrup of Ipecuc, a medicine that can induce vomiting. The numbers of the poison infor­ mation centre should also be beside every phone: (in this area 1-800- 268-9017). For farmers the danger comes not just from one-time exposure to chemicals but from long term exposure or chronic toxicity. Over a long period of repeated exposures the chemicals can build up in the body causing mutation or genetic changes in cells (including malfor­ mation of a fetus) and the produc­ tion of cancer. Some people are more sensitive than others to the same chemicals. For some of the farmers present it’s a hard sell to convince them that the chemicals they have been using for years can do them so much harm. During a coffee break one says he thinks all the concern over chemicals is the result of Chemicals should be kept locked up. of steadily rising prices. However, how would you like to live in a world where your money only bought half as much on Tuesday as it did on Monday and on Wednes­ day it would only be worth one- quarter of what it was on Monday? That is called hyperinflation which means that the situation is totally out of control. That is precisely what happened in Germany and Hungary after World War II and more recently in Bolivia where the rate of inflation earlier this decade reached the dizzy height of 10,000 per cent. Under such conditions money be­ comes worthless as a store of value and next to worthless as a medium of exchange. It was not too long ago that Israel was looking at 1,000 per cent while currently Brazil is experiencing a 200 per cent rate with things going to get pressure groups. He’s been using one dangerous chemical for years and he’s still healthy, he says. But for the most part the audience is receptive. “The reason we don’t usually suffer is that we usually do it right,” Mr. Hazlitt says. “But we can be safer.” when the husband is fields and in future a certificate to be take the chemicals The course deals with more than just danger to the users of the chemicals. It goes on to talk about danger to the environment and how farmers can comply with stricter laws like the Spills Bill. Mr. Hazlitt says he hopes that more farm wives will take the course in future too because it is often the women who are asked to go pick up chemicals at the supplier busy in the you’ll need allowed to home. But impressing on farmers the power of the genie in the chemical bottle may also give them new respect for this modern farming tool. It may make them aware that this is not something to be fooled with. Certainly the audience sits there quitely taking in the videos and Mr. Hazlitt’s comments and offering few arguments. Mr. Haz­ litt says that has been his biggest surprise in the sessions he has taught. Perhaps the message is sinking in. worse before they get better. Well, what causes all this? First of all, keep in mind that inflation is what is called a monetary phenom­ enon which means that it has to do roughly with the amount of money in circulation. If the government allows much more money to be created and circulated, it can be sure that within a year or two prices will start to climb at about the same rate as the increase in the money supply. That in itself would not be so bad if the extra money were evenly distributed throughout our society. Unfortunately it is not and therein lies the chief problem. The extra money and the subsequent in­ crease in prices are spread evenly in the economy and these distor­ tions can be nothing short of devastating to some people. 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