Community-Based Intervention to Reduce Pesticide Exposure to Farmworkers and Potential Take-Home Exposure to Their Families

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barr DB ; Boeniger, Mark F. ; Bradman A ; Castorina R ; Eskenazi B ; Jewell NP ; Kavanagh-Baird G ; Salvatore AL ; Snyder J ; Striley, Cindy
• Description:
  The US EPA Worker Protection Standard requires pesticide safety training for farmworkers. Combined with re-entry intervals, these regulations are designed to reduce pesticide exposure. Little research has been conducted on whether additional steps may reduce farmworker exposure and the potential for take-home exposure to their families. We conducted an intervention with 44 strawberry harvesters (15 control and 29 intervention group members) to determine whether education, encouragement of handwashing, and the use of gloves and removable coveralls reduced exposure. Post-intervention, we collected foliage and urine samples, as well as hand rinse, lower-leg skin patch, and clothing patch samples. Post-intervention loading of malathion on hands was lower among workers who wore gloves compared to those who did not (median = 8.2 vs. 777.2 mu g per pair, respectively (P < 0.001)); similarly, median MDA levels in urine were lower among workers who wore gloves (45.3 vs. 131.2 mu g/g creatinine, P < 0.05). Malathion was detected on clothing (median 0.13 mu g/cm(2)), but not on skin. Workers who ate strawberries had higher malathion dicarboxylic acid levels in urine (median = 114.5 vs. 39.4 mu g/g creatinine, P < 0.01). These findings suggest that wearing gloves reduces pesticide exposure to workers contacting strawberry foliage containing dislodgeable residues. Additionally, wearing gloves and removing work clothes before returning home could reduce transport of pesticides to worker homes. Behavioral interventions are needed to reduce consumption of strawberries in the field. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Biological Factors Hazardous Substances Insecticides Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Behavior-patterns Biological-factors Biological-systems Health-hazards Occupational-exposure Occupational-safety-programs Personal-protection Pesticide-residues Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Risk-factors Statistical-analysis

  More +
• ISSN:
  1559-0631
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Georgia ; Kentucky ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  79-89
• Volume:
  18
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034874
• Citation:
  J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2009 Jan; 19(1):79-89
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Asa Bradman, Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94720-7380
• Email:
  abradman@socrates.berkeley.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing ; Manufacturing ; Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f8d7f05ff756177e366e9ce927d11d0f5df5a9df999bbb3875f2c6cc2de27b80dede17adce6531dc280c2d5b94c15b010cbd56d17a5ae53f5388e971a0676589
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186920/cdc_186920_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 228.37 KB ]