Case Report: Three Farmworkers Who Gave Birth to Infants with Birth Defects Closely Grouped in Time and Place – Florida and North Carolina, 2004–2005

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alarcon, Walter ; Allen RH ; Barrett R ; Becker A ; Calvert, Geoffrey M. ; Chelminski A ; Correa A ; Correia J ; Crowley MS ; Evans E ; Higgins S ; Leon HL
• Description:
  Context: There is little evidence linking adverse reproductive effects to exposure to specific pesticides during pregnancy. Case Presentation: In February 2005, three infants with congenital anomalies were identified in Collier County, Florida who were born within 8 weeks of each other and whose mothers worked for the same tomato grower. The mothers worked on the grower's Florida farms in 2004 before transferring to its North Carolina farms. All three worked during the period of organogenesis in fields recently treated with several pesticides. The Florida and North Carolina farms were inspected by regulatory agencies, and in each state a large number of violations were identified and record fines were levied. Discussion: Despite the suggestive evidence, a causal link could not be established between pesticide exposures and the birth defects in the three infants. Nonetheless, the prenatal pesticide exposures experienced by the mother's of the three infants is cause for concern. Farmworkers need greater protections against pesticides. These include increased efforts to publicize and comply with both the US Environmental Protections Agency's Worker Protection Standard and pesticide label requirements, enhanced procedures to ensure pesticide applicator competency, and recommendations to growers to adopt work practices to reduce pesticide exposures. Relevance to Professional Practice: The findings from this report reinforce the need to reduce pesticide exposures among farmworkers. In addition, they support the need for epidemiologic studies to examine the role of pesticide exposure in the etiology of congenital anomalies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Case Reports Fungi Fungicide, Industrial Insecticides Occupational Health Safety Teratogenesis Urogenital Diseases Urogenital System Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Case-studies Fungicides Pesticide-residues Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Reproductive-effects Reproductive-hazards Surveillance-programs Teratogens Work-practices Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Florida ; Georgia ; North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  115
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031678
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2007 May; 115(5):787-791
• Contact Point Address:
  Geoffrey M. Calvert, M.D., M.P.H., National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, R-17, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  jac6@CDC.GOV
• CAS Registry Number:
  Chlorothalonil (CAS RN 1897-45-6) ; Ethylenethiourea (CAS RN 96-45-7) ; Mancozeb (CAS RN 8018-01-7) ; Methamidophos (CAS RN 10265-92-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:649d42980999bc1b20d48a3bd424dd749d298c164d2a1728e9b7b5bc7f46390da6f1eae605b4a973534b474ea588043a63091e2af1632b92fa9a67daa06a9124
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185884/cdc_185884_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 475.60 KB ]