Pesticide incident reports are extremely valuable to state and federal regulators, allowing them to spot trends and identify practices or products that are particularly hazardous. As an example, California has the most comprehensive incident reporting system. In 1998, the state database began to include incidents which highlighted suspected pesticide exposure. An examination of California's poisoning incidents from 1998 to 2000 show a total of 1,308 incidents involving agricultural workers. An analysis of these incidents revealed that 50% were due to pesticide drift and 25% were caused by pesticide residues on plants. These trends alert regulators of the need to improve protections for farmworkers in these circumstances. Incident reports also uncover specific instances where a required restricted entry interval (REI), is not long enough to protect field workers.

In May 1986, 198 farmworkers were sent to pick oranges only seven days after the groves had been sprayed with propargite (Omite-CR). Fifty-two percent of the workers (114) sustained severe chemical burns. Upon investigation, it was learned that the manufacturer's addition of a new inert ingredient to the formulation allowed the active ingredient to remain on the leaves for 42 days. This change also caused the product to be toxic to workers for that same extended time period. California subsequently banned Omite-CR for any agricultural use. (Saunders LD, Ames RG, Knaak JB, et al: Outbreak of Omite-CR- induced dermatitis among orange pickers in Tulare County, California. J Occup Med 29(5):409-413, 1987.)

Similarly, in the summer of 1993, physicians in Washington State filed 26 reports with their state department of health of phosdrin poisoning among farmworkers who had been applying the insecticide in 19 separate apple orchards. Alerted to this rash of poisonings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated and determined that at least one-third of the poisoned workers had fully complied with all label instructions for protecting themselves from exposure. Largely due to these findings, the EPA banned the use of phosdrin in 1995. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Occupational pesticide poisoning in apple orchards-Washington, 1993. MMWR 42(51-52): 993-995, 1994).

Shelley Davis, Farmworker Justice, 2002