Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
had been greatly exaggerated. He associated spray work with relatively
high wages and short days. Reyes rejected the idea that exposure to Bor-
deaux spray was a health hazard, but his story confirmed the image of
spray applicators covered with blue-green stains and smelling of copper
sulfate. His memories of spray work also drew an indirect link between
the job and respiratory disease. Reyes believed that sickness among spray
workers was due to the personal hygiene habits of workers who bathed
immediately after working, while still sweaty and hot (agitados): ''I had
a younger cousin who was in the habit of bathing as soon as he finished
work.I'dsay'Look,cousin,don'tbathewhileyouarehotandsweaty.Wait
until later.' But no, he was always going to visit his girlfriend and did not
want to be seen with spray stains.''
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According to Reyes, this habit was
unhealthy, a belief shared by at least one other former worker.
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Camilo Rivera Girón, who worked seven years as a spray master for
the Tela Railroad Company prior to becoming a political and business
leader in San Pedro Sula, recalled trying in vain to discourage workers
from referring to themselves as veneneros. However, he vacillated on the
hazards posed by spray work: ''Even though they got sick, there were not
any laws; no one was thinking—but no, it's not true that they got sick,
because I would have become sick too. I was there.''
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Rivera Girón de-
clared that ''nevereven once did my lungs bother me,'' but his job as spray
master did not require him to apply, or even directly supervise, fungi-
cide treatments on a regular basis. Furthermore, his position as a spray
master meant that he was an empleado de confianza whoreceivedbetter
housing and medical care than the vast majority of field workers. Signifi-
cantly, Rivera Girón's conflicted memory of spray work both denied the
possibilitythatthefruitcompanywasresponsibleforcreatingahazardous
working environment and implicitly linked Bordeaux spray to respiratory
ailments.
Written sources related to the health effects of Bordeaux spraying in
Honduras are few. However, a 1950 report prepared by a Honduran con-
gressional committee that spent a week investigating labor conditions on
the North Coast stated that ''thework of thosewho sprayvenenodeserves
special mention. Although some are of the opinion that the spray is in-
nocuous,agreaternumberbelievethatitproducesdamagingeffects.''
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In
Costa Rica, where spray workers called themselves pericos, or parakeets,
onaccountoftheindelibleblue-greenleftontheirclothesandskin,docu-
mentary evidence confirms that Bordeaux spray work was closely asso-
ciated with respiratory maladies.
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Headaches, coughing, and a loss of appetitewere among the acute re-
