Migrant Farmworkers and Green Tobacco Sickness: New Issues for an Understudied Disease

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arcury TA ; Austin C ; Norton D ; Preisser JS ; Quandt SA
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: The transition from family tobacco production to dependence on hired labor has placed migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSF) at risk for green tobacco sickness (GTS). No previous studies of GTS have focused on MSF. METHODS: One hundred and forty-four Hispanic MSF working in tobacco production in North Carolina were surveyed to obtain self-reports of GTS, preventive behaviors, and treatments. RESULTS: Forty-one percent reported having GTS at least once during the summer. Most had taken no precautions to prevent GTS. Ninety-six percent of those with GTS had tried to treat it. Antinausea medications were the most common treatments. Only 9% sought medical treatment; 7% lost work time. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of GTS obtained by interviewing MSF is much higher than that in other studies, which have relied on rates of medical treatment or farmers' reports for their workers. MSF constitute a population at risk for GTS who have little control over work conditions to prevent GTS or seek treatment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Biological Factors Demography Farmers Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Smoke Tobacco Products Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Biological-factors Demographic-characteristics Occupational-diseases Risk-factors Sociological-factors Tobacco Tobacco-dusts Tobacco-industry Tobacco-smoke Work-environment Work-operations Worker-health Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  307-315
• Volume:
  37
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029881
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2000 Mar; 37(3):307-315
• Contact Point Address:
  Sara A. Quandt, Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem NC 27157-1063
• Email:
  squandt@wfubmc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment And Workforce: Special Populations
• Performing Organization:
  Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ed78bf5c49e82a631c54ac646559d827a3dff79fbb40e8a0ba93b87cacbb946fef1a09808b5279e930a62ed74e9c0cb6ee6c25058ae036b84b9fc6ca63c19e3a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190775/cdc_190775_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 140.29 KB ]