07/08/05 State investigates farmwork sicknesses

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture has launched an investigation into a Canyon County incident that sent a nearly two dozen farmworkers to the hospital. It happened Wednesday after the workers went to an onion field east of Caldwell. That field has been sprayed with a pesticide Tuesday night. When the farm workers moved to a second field later that morning some of them became ill. 22 field workers where treated at portable decontamination units before some were taken to West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell and Mercy Medical in Nampa. A half dozen field workers were kept overnight in the intensive care unit. State Department of Agriculture's Wayne Hoffman says his agency has already gone back to investigate the fields where these workers had been in the past several of days. HOFFMAN "And as part of that it would be our job to make sure that the labels were followed, that our regulations were followed and that worker safety regulations were taken into account." It could be at least a month before the investigation is complete. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott