Acute Occupational Pesticide-Related Illness and Injury – United States, 2007–2011

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Beckman, John ; Bojes, Heidi K. ; Bonnar Prado, Joanne ; Calvert, Geoffrey M. ; Higgins, Sheila A. ; Lackovic, Michelle ; Leinenkugel, Kathy ; Moraga-McHaley, Stephanie ; Mulay, Prakash R. ; Schwartz, Adam ; Stover, Derry T. ; Waltz, Justin
• Description:
  CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) collects data on acute pesticide-related illness and injury reported by 12 states (California, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington). This report summarizes the data on illnesses and injuries arising from occupational exposure to conventional pesticides from 2007 through 2011. This report is a part of the Summary of Notifiable Noninfectious Conditions and Disease Outbreaks - United States, which encompasses various surveillance years but is being published in 2016. The Summary of Notifiable Noninfectious Conditions and Disease Outbreaks appears in the same volume of MMWR as the annual Summary of Notifiable Infectious Diseases. In a separate report, data on illnesses and injuries from nonoccupational exposure to pesticides during 2007-2011 are summarized. Pesticides are substances or mixtures of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate pests (pests include insects, rodents, fungi, and weeds). In 2007, the year with the most currently available data, an estimated 2.1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides were used in the United States, which represents approximately 22% of the entire worldwide use of these pesticides. Conventional pesticides include insecticides, insect repellents, herbicides, fungicides, and fumigants and exclude chlorine, hypochlorites, and other biocides. The benefits of pesticides are well recognized and primarily include their role in protecting the food supply and in controlling disease vectors. However, no form of pest control using pesticides is perfectly safe. Tracking the associated health effects of pesticides can help ensure that no pesticides pose an unreasonable burden. For this reason, public health surveillance of acute pesticide-related illness and injury serves a vital societal role by assessing the magnitude and characteristics of such illness and injury. Surveillance of acute pesticide-related illness and injury has been endorsed by several professional organizations and federal agencies including the American Medical Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, NIOSH and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Pesticide products must pass an extensive battery of testing prior to being registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This testing forms the basis for the human health and environmental risk assessments conducted by EPA that guide identification of the conditions under which a pesticide can be used. These conditions of use are reflected in pesticide product labeling. Compliance with these use conditions is expected to prevent unreasonable adverse effects to human health and the environment. To verify the real-world effectiveness of pesticide product labeling in preventing adverse human health effects, EPA reviews findings from acute pesticide-related illness and injury surveillance systems. These surveillance data assist EPA in determining whether labeling is effective or if labeling improvements are needed. When health effects occur despite adherence to label instructions, and EPA determines the magnitude to be unreasonable, EPA requires that interventions be instituted that involve changing pesticide use conditions and/or modifying regulatory measures. Acute pesticide-related illness and injury also can occur because of lack of compliance with existing pesticide regulations. The appropriate interventions for these cases include enhanced training and enforcement. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Epidemiology Herbicides Insecticides Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Organophosphates Phosphoric Acids Safety
• Keywords:
  Surveillance; Pesticides and agricultural chemicals; Information retrieval systems; Epidemiology; Agricultural industry; Injuries; Occupational exposure; Insecticides; Herbicides; Pyrethroids; Organo-phosphorus pesticides; Phosphates; Pest control
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6355a3
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• 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
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• Volume:
  63
• Issue:
  55
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048781
• Citation:
  MMWR Sum Notifiable Noninfect Cond Dis Outbreaks US 2016 Oct; 63(55):11-16
• Email:
  jac6@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  Public Health Institute
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:667be416e6a72287625861f1b78e96e6959d584b1e033846e4dbdf040ab45a0d2cc01a776f37ef7750a033141c2a096d9066656af41af4b71bf8d86573ac4678
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248474/cdc_248474_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 119.29 KB ]