Bill Text: CA AB1963 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Pesticide poisoning.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 369, Statutes of 2010. [AB1963 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB1963-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1963 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 369
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 23, 2010
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 15, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Nava
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
An act to add and repeal Section 105206 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to pesticide poisoning.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1963, Nava. Pesticide poisoning.
Existing law establishes standards for the handling and use of
pesticides and for determining the hazards posed by pesticides to
worker safety. Existing law imposes various reporting requirements on
physicians and local health officers when there are known or
suspected instances of pesticide poisoning. Under existing law,
worker reentry into areas treated by pesticides determined to be
hazardous to worker safety may be restricted by whether pesticide
residue levels on treated plants are determined by scientific
analysis not to be a significant factor in cholinesterase depression
or other health effects.
This bill would require any laboratory that performs
cholinesterase testing on human blood for an employer to enable the
employer to satisfy his or her responsibilities for medical
supervision of his or her employees who regularly handle pesticides
pursuant to specified regulations or to respond to alleged exposure
to cholinesterase inhibitors or known exposure to the inhibitors that
resulted in illness to electronically report specified information
in its possession on every person tested to the Department of
Pesticide Regulation, which would be required to share the
information in an electronic format with the Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and the State Department of Public
Health on an ongoing basis, as specified. This bill would require the
OEHHA to review the cholinesterase test results.
This bill would require, by December 31, 2015, the Department of
Pesticide Regulation and the OEHHA, in consultation with the State
Department of Public Health, to prepare a report, as specified, and
to post that report on their Internet Web sites.
This bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2017.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California has been recognized as a leader in occupational
safety and public health by establishing pesticide illness
surveillance and cholinesterase medical monitoring programs in the
1970s. The Department of Pesticide Regulation is the primary agency
responsible for implementing these programs, and it does so in
collaboration with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA).
(b) Insecticides that inhibit the enzyme cholinesterase constitute
some of the most acutely hazardous pesticides used in California.
(c) Regulations adopted pursuant to Section 12981 of the Food and
Agricultural Code require agricultural employers to provide periodic
cholinesterase testing for employees who regularly handle
cholinesterase inhibiting pesticides.
(d) Under Section 105200 of the Health and Safety Code, physicians
are required to file pesticide illness reports with the local health
officer when they know, or have reasonable cause to believe, that
patients may be suffering from pesticide poisoning or any disease or
condition caused by a pesticide. Section 105200 of the Health and
Safety Code requires each local health officer to forward the reports
to the Director of Pesticide Regulation, the Director of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the Director of
Industrial Relations.
(e) The Department of Pesticide Regulation and the OEHHA have
reviewed the cholinesterase medical monitoring programs, using
information from illness surveillance programs, clinical
laboratories, and surveys of doctors and agriculturalists, but have
found these data sources insufficient to evaluate the effectiveness
of cholinesterase medical monitoring programs that are intended to
protect California pesticide handlers from overexposure to pesticides
that inactivate cholinesterase. An evaluation of the cholinesterase
medical monitoring is essential to determine its effectiveness.
(f) California workers would benefit by expanding the
cholinesterase monitoring program to include cholinesterase
laboratory reporting and establishing a framework for the Department
of Pesticide Regulation and the OEHHA to evaluate the program,
identify issues of concern, and conduct studies deemed necessary to
improve the medical monitoring program.
SEC. 2. Section 105206 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
105206. (a) A laboratory that performs cholinesterase testing on
human blood drawn in California for an employer to enable the
employer to satisfy his or her responsibilities for medical
supervision of his or her employees who regularly handle pesticides
pursuant to Section 6728 of Title 3 of the California Code of
Regulations or to respond to alleged exposure to cholinesterase
inhibitors or known exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors that
resulted in illness shall report the information specified in
subdivision (b) to the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Reports
shall be submitted to the Department of Pesticide Regulation on, at a
minimum, a monthly basis. For the purpose of meeting the
requirements in subdivision (d), the reports shall be submitted via
electronic media and formatted in a manner approved by the director.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation shall share information from
cholinesterase reports with the OEHHA and the State Department of
Public Health on an ongoing basis, in an electronic format, for the
purpose of meeting the requirements of subdivisions (e) and (f).
(b) The testing laboratory shall report all of the following
information in its possession in complying with subdivision (a):
(1) The test results in International Units per milliliter of
sample (IU/mL).
(2) The purpose of the test, including baseline or other periodic
testing, pursuant to the requirements of Section 6728 of Title 3 of
the California Code of Regulations, or evaluation of suspected
pesticide illness.
(3) The name of the person tested.
(4) The date of birth of the person tested.
(5) The name, address, and telephone number of the health care
provider or medical supervisor who ordered the analysis.
(6) The name, address, and telephone number of the analyzing
laboratory.
(7) The accession number of the specimen.
(8) The date that the sample was collected from the patient and
the date the result was reported.
(9) Contact information for the person tested and his or her
employer, if known and readily available.
(c) The medical supervisor ordering the test for a person pursuant
to subdivision (a) shall note in the test order the purpose of the
test, pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and ensure that
the person tested receives a copy of the cholinesterase test results
and any recommendations from the medical supervisor within 14 days of
the medical supervisor receiving the results.
(d) All information reported pursuant to this section shall be
confidential, as provided in Section 100330, except that the OEHHA,
the Department of Pesticide Regulation, and the State Department of
Public Health may share the information for the purpose of
surveillance, case management, investigation, environmental
remediation, or abatement with the appropriate county agricultural
commissioner and local health officer.
(e) The OEHHA shall review the cholinesterase test results and may
provide an appropriate medical or toxicological consultation to the
medical supervisor. In addition to the duties performed pursuant to
Section 105210, the OEHHA, in consultation with the Department of
Pesticide Regulation and the local health officer, may provide
medical and toxicological consultation, as appropriate, to the county
agricultural commissioner to address medical issues related to the
investigation of cholinesterase inhibitor-related illness.
(f) By December 31, 2015, the Department of Pesticide Regulation
and the OEHHA, in consultation with the State Department of Public
Health, shall prepare a report on the effectiveness of the medical
supervision program and the utility of laboratory-based reporting of
cholinesterase testing for illness surveillance and prevention. The
joint report may include recommendations to the Legislature that the
Department of Pesticide Regulation and the OEHHA deem necessary. The
Department of Pesticide Regulation and the OEHHA shall make the
report publicly available on their Internet Web sites.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.
