Almost 79 teenagers were hospitalized Thursday, after a crop dusting plane accidentally sprayed them with fungicide, while working in a corn field, according to Delish.com.
The teenagers were detasseling corn when the chemical drifted over from an adjacent field, said Tom Helscher, a spokesman for Monsanto, the St. Louis- based company using the field to produce corn.
The teenagers were decontaminated by firefighters with soap and water at the scene and taken to the emergency room for further treatment. According to hospital officials, the teens were treated with what appeared to be minor ailments. Emergency room director Allen Rinehart told the Huffington Post, some of the teens workers had irritated skin, but they were all stable and being released to their parents.
"There's been a couple that have had minor irritations, but nothing significant," Rinehart said.
Spokesmen for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and state Bureau of Environment programs said the agencies are investigating the incident.
Detasseling is pulling the pollinating tassels off the top of the corn plants that will produce seed for future planting.
The teens were working for Team Corn, a Princeton, ILL-based company contracts for Monsanto. Federal workplace safety regulations allow children as young as 12 to work on farms in jobs that OSHA does not consider hazardous provided their parents' consent. Team Corn's website said the company hires as young as 12 for work across Illinois, but teens in Iowa and Indiana.
In 2011, two 14-year-old girls working as detasselers in a corn field were electrocuted by irrigation equipment. OSHA found the company was not at fault.
