Key Considerations for Assessing Soil Ingestion Exposures Among Agricultural Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Agnew J ; Burke TA ; Kennedy RD ; Lupolt SN ; Nachman KE
• Description:
  Background: Soil ingestion is a critical, yet poorly characterized route of exposure to contaminants, particularly for agricultural workers who have frequent, direct contact with soil. Objective: This qualitative investigation aims to identify and characterize key considerations for translating agricultural workers' soil ingestion experiences into recommendations to improve traditional exposure science tools for estimating soil ingestion. Methods: We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 16 fruit and vegetable growers in Maryland to characterize their behaviors and concerns regarding soil contact in order to characterize the nature of soil ingestion in the agricultural context. Results: We identified and discussed four emergent themes: (1) variability in growers' descriptions of soil and dust, (2) variability in growers' soil contact, (3) growers' concerns regarding soil contact, (4) growers' practices to modify soil contact. We also identified environmental and behavioral factors and six specific agricultural tasks that may impact soil ingestion rates. Significance: Our investigation fills an important gap in occupational exposure science methodology by providing four key considerations that should be integrated into indirect measurement tools for estimating soil ingestion rates in the agricultural context. Specifically, a task-based framework may provide a structure for future investigations of soil contact that may be useful in other populations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Farmers Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Workers Author Keywords: Agriculture Environmental Contamination Environmental Exposure Exposure Factor Qualitative Analysis Soil Analysis Soil Ingestion
• ISSN:
  1559-0631
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  481-492
• Volume:
  32
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068091
• Citation:
  J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2022 May; 32(3):481-492
• Contact Point Address:
  Sara N. Lupolt, Department of Environmental Health & Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
• Email:
  slupolt1@jhu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Johns Hopkins University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e249dff084e829ffd3a0c118dab941758b0bcf71f87033e45bb1c9bbfded3ef44e85d043b359fdd9a845ca8aab52140f98962210a3bd827e7e24489e9b45ed10
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230309/cdc_230309_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 771.22 KB ]