Farmworkers get protection from smoke
Salinas assemblyman authored bill, signed into law by Newsom, requiring the state to make N95 masks available
SALINAS » A Salinas Assemblyman’s bill providing farmworker protections from wildfire smoke was signed into law Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bill requires the state to have an adequate supply of N95 masks specifically available to farmworkers who are in range of wildfire smoke.
Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, had his Assembly Bill 73 signed by the governor and will require the state’s stockpile of N95 masks to be made available to farmworkers during a wildfire outbreak. The new law, called the Farmworker Wildfire Smoke Protections Act, will also provide “quality and comprehensible training relating to wildfire smoke.”
“Our state is yet again experiencing a catastrophic wildfire season and continues to battle COVID-19,” Rivas said Monday in a written statement. “While many of us have had the privilege to work from home, our farmworkers weren’t so lucky. Instead, they continue to work the smoky fields to feed the nation and sustain a multi-billion dollar industry.”
Rivas is chairman of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and the vicechairman of the California Legislative Latino Caucus.
Smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and fine particles produced when wood and other organic materials burn. The biggest health threat from smoke is from the fine particles, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and can cause a range of health problems, from burning eyes and a runny nose to chronic heart and lung diseases. Exposure to particle pollution is even linked to premature death, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As the past few years have proven, massive wildfires have become the norm in California, and with climate change things could get worse.
The training provided to workers is meant to be highly comprehensible by using pictograms and accounting for relevant ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and education levels.
State Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, said making farmworkers toil in the presence of dangerous levels of smoke cannot be morally justified.
“Many of us are privileged to work in air-conditioned offices, safe from the natural elements,” Caballero said in a statement. “Farmworkers show up to the fields every day to provide fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables to the state, the nation and the world during wildfire season — even when it is a threat to their health and well-being. Providing farmworkers with (masks) and wildfire safety education and protection is simply the right thing to do and is long overdue.”
The new law takes effect immediately.