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.