Pesticides are a significant environmental hazard for farmworkers and their families. The EPA estimates that agricultural workers suffer 10,000 to 20,000 acute pesticide poisonings each year.1 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that farm workers experience the highest rate of chemical-related illness of any occupational group: 5.5 cases per 1,000.10

California is one of the few states that have a well-established program to collect and investigate pesticide incident reports. In 2000, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) found 893 incidents to be definitely, possibly or probably (DPP) related to pesticide exposure. Of these confirmed cases, 417, or 47 percent, involved agricultural workers. In the ten-year period from 1991 to 2000, even as the total number of all DPP cases has gradually declined, the percentage of such cases that involved agricultural workers has risen.2 For the period 1998 2000, 51 percent of the agricultural exposures (681 cases) occurred when pesticides drifted from the target onto nearby workers and 25 percent (336 cases) were due to dermal contact with pesticide residues on the crop.7 However, CDPR found no regulatory violations in 286 (42 percent) of the 681 drift cases or in 189 (56 percent) of the 336 residue cases, indicating that in many instances the law is too weak or the incident investigations are inadequate.7

Children from agricultural families are particularly vulnerable to pesticides as they are exposed to higher levels of pesticides than those whose parents do not work in agriculture and do not live close to farms.8, 5 Migrant farmworker children and children living in agricultural areas may be exposed to higher pesticide levels than other children because pesticides may be tracked into their homes by farmworker parents or by pesticide drift.3, 9 Additionally, some children are exposed to pesticides by playing or working in nearby fields. Children face particular risks from pesticides as their developmental patterns, behavior and physiology make them more susceptible than adults.6, 4

Footnotes

1. Blondell, J. (1997). Epidemiology of pesticide-related poisonings in the United States, with special reference to occupational class. Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, 12:209-220.
2. California Department of Pesticide Regulation. (2000). Pesticide Incident Reports 1991-2000.
3. Eskenai, B., Bradman A., Castorina R. (1999). Exposures of children to organophosphate pesticides and their potential adverse health effects. Environmental Health Perspectives, 107 Suppl 3: 409-19.
4. Faustman, E.M., Silbernagel S.M., Fenske, R.A., Burbacher, T.M., Ponce, R.A. (2000). Mechanisms underlying childrens susceptibility to environmental toxicants. Environmental Health Perspectives, 108 suppl 1: 13-21.
5. Fenske, R.A., Kissel, J.C., Lu, C., Kalman, D.A., Simcox, N.J., Allen, E.H., Keirfer, M.C. (2000) Biologically based pesticide dose estimates for children in an agricultural community. Environmental Health Perspectives, 108(6):515-20.
6. Landrigan, P. (2001). Pesticides and PCBs: Does the evidence show that they threaten childrens health. Contemporary Pediatrics, 18 (2): 110-124.
7. Reeves, M, Guzman M Katten A. (2002). Fields of Poison. California Farmworkers and Pesticides
8. Simcox, N.J., Fenske, R.A., Wolz, S.A, Lee, I.C., Kalman, D.A. (1995). Pesticides in household dust and soil: exposure pathways for children in agricultural families. Environmental Health Perspectives, 103 (12): 1126-34.
9. Thompson, B., Coronado, G.D., Grossman, J.E., Puschel, K., Solomon, C.C., Islas, I., Curl, C.L, Shirai, J.H., Kissel, J.C. (2003). Pesticide take-home pathway among children of agricultural workers: Study design, methods, and baseline findings. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 45: 43-53.
10. U.S. Department of Labor (1987). Field Sanitation Standard, 52 Fed. Reg. 16,050, 16,059