A24-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 10,1989
Vet Urges
(Continued from Page A 1)
training. Young Farmers attending
the event received 2 core credits
toward their certification.
Sammons, standing above the
crowd on the bumper of the
Rehrersburg Rescue truck, opened
the program with a leading ques
tion, “How many of you have your
pesticides stored in a separate
locked building?’’ Getting no
response, Sammons said, “I’m not
surprised. Pesticides should be
stored in a safe area away from
children, pets and livestock. They
should be kept in marked contain
ers that include a list of the
contents.
When choosing a place to store
pesticides plan ahead! Think how
runoff could be controlled should
an accident occur and it’s nice to
have a fire extinguisher handy.”
Sammons also reminded the audi
ence that fertilizers, liquid ammo
nia and fuels should be stored with
care.
“Now how many of you have
read the label of the pesticides you
are applying and I mean the whole
label.” Again no one raised their
hands. “Pesticide companies
change their products often, some
times early. If you used a pound of
something last year it may only
take a tenth of a pound this year to
accomplish the same job. Don’t
mix products together unless the
label instructs you to do so. Some
pesticides aren’t meant to be put
together.”
Sammons’ final question in
Duane Stump of the Tulpehocken FFA demonstrates
why it’s not good to have extra riders on tractors during the
Tulpehocken Young Farmers recent meeting.
on - , CBn * er > dishes homemade ice cream for the
e 2!l? t th ® Tulpehocken Young Farmers
Pesticide Safety Meeting and Ice Cream Social.
Caution With Pesticides
volved protective clothing. None
of the audience volunteered that
they were wearing proper clothing
and Sammons stressed its impor
tance. “Pesticides can cause
chronic poisoning. The effects of
this poisoning include genetic
defects, cancer and clinical signs
like a twitching eye.”
Pat Richie of the Berks
Cooperative Extension Service
added several precautions for clo
thing care. “Be sure to launder
clothes separate from the rest of
the family wash and the washer
should be run on an additional
rinse cycle with no clothes in it to
help clean the machine. Make sure
before you take your gloves off to
wash them. Always wash your
hands before going to the bath
room and when you’re finished
applying pesticides shower im
mediately.”
Sammons continued in the
same vein. “Remember to clean
up properly and dispose of leftov
ers carefully. There was a case of a
farmer who put some leftover fur
adan in a mineral bag. The pesti
cides were stored in the same area
as the minerals and the next morn
ing an employee picked up the bag
of furadan by mistake. The farmer
ended up with 100 dead cows.
That’s a pretty expensive way to
save three dollars worth of pesti
cide.”
“Also take care to park sprayers
in a safe area, away from wells
and the neighbor’s lawn. Properly
dispose of empty containers too.
One empty furadan bag blew into
l 4 1
*K
t *
T
a pasture and a farmer called us
with three dead cows. Read label
directions to find out what to do
with empty containers. I know that
everyone has been busy in the last
week and there are a lot of farms
with empty pesticide containers
sitting around right now. It pays to
be careful, also don’t store pesti
cides for a long time. We received
a call from a fanner that his cows
were acting goofy. A strange yel
low substance was dripping down
from the ceiling onto his cows. It
turned out that a pesticide that the
farmer had put away 15 years ago
was leaking. If you’re not going to
use it, get rid of it.”
Sammons then offered some
invaluable advice on what to do if
the unthinkable should happen
and he prefaced his instructions
with words designed to make fam
ily members sit up and take notice.
“Women and children should pay
close attention to what we’re
about to discuss. When pesticide
accidents occur it is most likely
that the farmer will be involved
and you may be required to act
quickly.”
“Rule #1... don’t be a hero.
Save yourself and other people
first, then the animals, then if there
is any safe way to control runoff.
Second get help fast. Berks Coun
ty will soon have a 911 number,
use it
Rule #3, stop the problem. A
small dike may control runoff
until proper authorities can arrive.
Remember to use your head and
don’t endanger yourself. Fourth,
control the area by keeping people
away from the danger. Number S,
if you have been exposed call the
poison control center. In Berks
Co. this is Reading Hospital. If
you need medical attention try to
have someone drive you to the
hospital. The ten to 15 minutes it
could take an ambulance to get to
your farm may be critical. Try to
rinse yourself off before leaving
to the hospital and at the very
least tell the medical personnel
what you have been exposed to so
that they can take the proper pre
cautions. Also try to take a clean
pesticide label with you.
If animals are exposed call the
vet immediately. There now is a
statewide antidote program. The
centers closest to us are Penn State
and New Bolton Center. To get
antidotes tom either place can
take four hours by vehicle so tim
ing is very important
Finally, make sure to call your
insurance company as soon as
possible. You are going to be
responsible to pay for the cleanup
of the accident and you want your
company to be informed right
away.”
Sammons made it clear that
timing can.be critical in a pesticide
accident and that cleanup can be a
highly involved operation. “It will
take 5 to 15 minutes for the local
fire company tp arrive. If they
determine that it is beyond their
capacity to handle they will call a
level 2 unit which will be on the
scene in 30 minutes to an hour. If
they can’t handle it Berks County
has just established a level three
team at the Berks Ag. Center. It
wjjl take an hour for them to
arrive. You will be expected to
provide parking to 25 vehicles.
The crews will need electricity
and a decontamination area will
have to be set up complete with
showers so team members can
wash immediately after leaving
the contaminated area.
If the spill is large enough the
DER and the EPA will be called
and it can take them hours to
arrive. A safety zone of 'A to one
/ Chief, modi . a disposable
pesticide clean up outfit. The suit which costs $75 is used
In low level pesticide spills. According to Sammons pro
tective clothing for large highly toxic pesticide accidents
can cost $3500.
mile may be established.
If the dirt is contaminated it will
have to be removed and two
inches of clean soil from under the
dirty soil will also have to be
removed. It can leave quite a hole.
You may be asked to get several
loads of commercial sawdust to
help absorb the pesticide. In some
cases where pesticides were in
burning structures it was less
expensive to let the bam bum than
to clean up the runoff,” Sammons
said.
The expense doesn’t end there,
according to Sammons. “Local
fire companies have disposable
suits to protect them frdm conta
mination. Each of these costs $75.
If it is a major problem there are
suits that cost $3500 and the
cleanup personnel work in teams
of at least two. So there is $7,000
and often these suits can not be
reused.”
Members of the Bemville Fire
Company modeled their regular
fire gear which Sammons explain
ed was ineffective in a pesticide
accident and the disposable suits
designed for hazardous materials
work. Then the firemen thrilled
the youngsters in\he audience by
using their hoses to spray simulat
ed foam and water across the farm
driveway in a demonstration of
containment techniques.
Despite the incredible hazards
and costs involved in an accident,
Sammons had numerous exam
ples of careless conduct with pes
ticides. “In Berks Co. there was
one young boy who was playing
with a dump truck. He pushed it
into his dad’s pesticide storage
area and filled it with furadan.
Then he fed it to dad’s cows.
Pretty coon four of the anjmals
were acting pretty goofy and the
boy ran and I ~J His brother called
the dad and he called us. Fortu
nately he did so promptly. The
little boy was all right and the
cows were treated. But the farmer
had not only the vet expenses but
he had to dump- hk -milk'from
those animals for 10 days.”
' Several of Sammons’ examples
didn’t end so happily. Eighteen
•- cows were killed in a Bladex acci
dent and the vet explained that
there js no antidote for Bladex. He
also mentioned that golden mala
din, a pesticide targeted for flies,
is the number one killer for farm
dogs. “Now you may think that
you wouldn’t put much money
into a farm dog but if your six
year-old daughter has her arms
around the dog’s neck and is cry
ing ‘please save my puppy,’ I’ll
bet most of you would pack the
dog up and bring him to the vets.
Maladin is a sugar-based product
and kids like it too so be careful
with it”
Sammons ended his talk by
reminding the farmers that they
needed to comply to OSHA’s
right to know rules and that
includes information on all pesti
cides. “In Northwestern Berks fire
departments are trying to have
j farmers send them a list of the per
i ticides on the farm, their storage
areas, and the location of the
farm’s wells for future reference.”
In another safety related issue,
four members of the Tulpehocken
FFA proved how easy it is to have
a tractor accident involving extra
riders. Steve Tice, Michael Ferry,
Robert Krill explained that trac
tors are not designed to carry extra
passengers. Most unnecessary rid
ers are children and according to a
Cooperative Extension Ag. Engi
neering fact sheet, over half of
reported farm accidents in Penn
sylvania. involving extra riders in
1977, 1978 and 1979 were fatal.
Duane Stuihp then dramatized an
accident using a stuffed dummy
with a balloon for a head as his
extra rider. The dummy fell under
the back wheel of the tractor and
the pop of the balloon was clearly
audible.
Following the program, the
Young Farmers held a short meet
ing then adjourned for homemade
- -iee- OFtam- and-strawbemet. *.