Pesticide Illness Surveillance And Pesticide Illness Reporting

California laws and regulations require physicians and other licensed health care professionals to report any known or suspected case of pesticide-related illness or injury to the Local County Health Officer within 24 hours. Please collect as much information as possible on the pesticide exposure from the patient during the examination and use one of the following four methods for reporting.

1. Calling the local health officer
   Physicians and other licensed health care professionals can call their local health department. For a list of phone numbers to call in each county, please click here.
    
2. Calling the California Poison Control System (CPCS)
   Physicians and other licensed health care professionals can call a Poison Control Center to report a case as well as seek advice from them for treating and managing a possible pesticide illness or injury. The Poison Control contact number for health care providers is 1-800-411-8080.
    
3. Submitting (fax) a Pesticide Illness Report or a Confidential Morbidity Report to the local health officer
   Physicians and other licensed health care professionals may fax the completed Pesticide Illness Report (PIR) form or Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) to the local health officer.  For a list of fax numbers to send reports to in each county, please click here.
    
4. Electronic reporting via the CalREDIE Provider Portal
   Physicians can report pesticide illness using CalREDIE. For more information, please visit the California Department of Public Health CalREDIE website or contact the CalREDIE Help Desk at CalREDIEHelp@cdph.ca.gov or (866) 866-1428. If you are interested in using the Provider Portal, please contact your local health jurisdiction to sign up for an account and for more information.

For a workers compensation case of pesticide illness or injury, in addition to reporting the case to the Local Health Officer within 24 hours using one of the previously stated methods, the physician must also file the Doctor's First Report of Occupational Injury or Illness Form (DFR) and send it to the patient’s employer or employer’s insurance carrier and to the Department of Industrial Relations within 5 days of the first visit, and to the Local Health Officer within 7 days of the first visit.  If using electronic reporting, CalREDIE will conveniently fill and provide a DFR to be downloaded.

When local health officers receive reports of known or suspected cases of pesticide-related illness or injury from physicians and other licensed health care professionals, California laws and regulations require them to:

1. Immediately notify the County Agricultural Commissioner of a pesticide illness case.
    
2. Submit a pesticide illness report (PIR) to OEHHA and DPR within seven days using one of the following methods:
    
   • Sending a Fax
     Use the PIR form to fax a pesticide illness report to OEHHA (916-327-7320) and DPR (916-322-8577).
      
   • Using CalREDIE electronic case reporting module
     Enter a pesticide illness report into the CalREDIE system – this will automatically inform both OEHHA and DPR. A User Guide is available for new local and state users of CalREDIE/PIR.
      
   • Accessing California Poison Control System
     Pesticide illness reports submitted via the California Poison Control System are directly sent to OEHHA and DPR. However, you can access cases in your jurisdiction by logging-in to your CPCS account. For more information on this process, contact OEHHA at Pesticides@oehha.ca.gov.
      
3. For Work-Related cases, submit a pesticide illness report (PIR) to the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) within seven days at 415-703-3029 (fax).

Contact Info

Pesticide Illness Investigation and Surveillance

Per California law, local health officers may request assistance from OEHHA to conduct epidemiologic investigations of pesticide poisoning outbreaks and to develop recommendations to control or prevent poisonings. For reports on specific investigations, please select a link below:

• Final Report, Illness Indicators in Lompoc, California. An Evaluation of Available Data
• Seizures after eating a snack food contaminated with the pesticide endrin: The tale of the toxic taquitos.
• Outbreak of Omite-CR-induced dermatitis among orange pickers in Tulare County, California.
• A Review of Acute Toxicity Studies Results on the Light Brown Apple Moth Pheromone Active Ingredient and Four LBAM Pheromone Products.
• Health Risk Assessment of Malathion Coproducts in Malathion-Bait Used for Agricultural Pest Eradication in Urban Areas.

OEHHA Contact Information: Pesticides@oehha.ca.gov or (510) 622-3200