Cancer in migrant and seasonal hired farm workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dodge J ; Mills PK ; Yang R
• Description:
  Studies of cancer among farm workers are difficult to conduct and interpret given the unique nature of this occupational group. The transitory nature of the work, high levels of poverty, and lack of legal documentation make epidemiologic studies difficult to accomplish. Nevertheless, this workforce in the United States, which numbers as much as 3 million persons, is a high isk population due to exposures to numerous toxic substances, including excessive sunlight, heat, dangerous machinery, fumes, fertizers, dust, and pesticides. We summarize characteristics of farm workers (i.e., demographics, health care) from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) and the California Agricultural Workers Survey (CAWS) and present findings from a series of studies conducted among farm workers in California. The epidemiology literature was reviewed and methods for a unique farm worker union-based epidemiologic study are presented. Farm workers in California and the rest of the United States, many of whom are seasonal and migrant workers are at elevated risk for numerous forms of cancer compared to the general population and specific pesticides may be associated with this altered risk. Elevated risks have been found for lymphomas and prostate, brain, leukemia, cervix, and stomach cancers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Carcinogens Demography Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Epidemiology Farmers Hazardous Substances Neoplasms Occupational Health Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Author Keywords: Cancer Cancer-rates Demographic-characteristics Environmental-exposure Environmental-factors Environmental-pollution Exposure-assessment Health-hazards Migrant Farm Workers Racial-factors Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Worker-health Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  1059-924X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  185-191
• Volume:
  14
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038814
• Citation:
  J Agromedicine 2009 Apr; 14(2):185-191
• Contact Point Address:
  Paul K. Mills, PhD, MPH, Associate Chief, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Fresno Medical Education and Research Program, Fresno, CA 93701, USA
• Email:
  PMills@fresno.ucsf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  Marshfield Clinic
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Agromedicine
• End Date:
  20090831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9868f8ab0daf8b05778804c7106eb0d614607dbdddef15fde3edd59055ac76c35b4fb623aeaf62f116e7a64fcf7fc9dcaca89956fac2b41124e8d8b33b387b16
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192381/cdc_192381_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 145.69 KB ]