Pest Control companies the TCI are licensed but in some cases their staff is not licensed to work with pesticides; today Premier and Health Minister Rufus Ewing said there is no legislation calling for practitioners in this industry to be licensed to use the dangerous mixtures sprayed to keep the nation pest free.
“I think it’s important that all of you get the relevant education and training so that you can protect the safety of yourself, your employees for those of you who are employers, as well as for government employees.”
The Health Minister opened the Pesticide Safety Training Workshop at the Environmental Center this morning, where there were over two dozen participants from the Private and Public sectors.
Director of Agriculture, Wilhelmina Kissoonsingh with her team hosted the half day exercise which covered five topics including the pros and cons of pesticide use.
“As we use pesticides, unless its what we call a specific pesticide, one that targets a specific pest, please bear in mind that we are interfering with the ecosystem, we’re interfering with the cycle of life, and so we are killing both the beneficial and what we call the harmful insects.”
The main message for the workshop was safety for the workers and safety for the public.
