UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News
Issue Number 1996-01
March 1996
Published by the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at
Davis, University of California, Davis, Marc Schenker, M.D., M.P.H.,
Director, Marti Childs, Editor
1996-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1996-01-01 Table of Contents
- 1996-01-02 Welcome and Introduction
- 1996-01-03 Southeast Asian Small Farms &
Pesticide Safety Outreach
- 1996-01-04 Assistance for small farmers
- 1996-01-05 An Analysis of the 1992 Census
of Agriculture
- 1996-01-06 New Center Assistants: Cirillo
& Hamiel
- 1996-01-07 Profile: Rose Krebill-Prather
to Assist Center Investigators
- 1996-01-08 Profile of Visiting Researchers:
Min Zeng & Zhong Wu
- 1996-01-08 Starch found to protect skin from
harmful chemicals
1996-01-02 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis
On-Line News.
On-Line News is a synopsis of news items covered by the Center's
quarterly newsletter along with additional information related to
agricultural health and safety issues. The Center has two electronic
list servers that allow automatic forwarding of e-mail to a list
of subscribers. One server is a forum for announcements and discussion
of agricultural health and safety issues and the other is a vehicle
for the automatic distribution of mini-newsletters.
The e-mail addresses for the forum is: aghealth@oem.ucdavis.edu
(message forwarding address) and aghealth-request@oem.ucdavis.edu
(subscriber request address). The addresses for the newsletter are:
aghealthnews@oem.ucdavis.edu (message forwarding address) and aghealthnews-request@oem.ucdavis.edu
(subscriber request address).
To subscribe to a list, send an e-mail message to the request address
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and your name. For example, to subscribe to the forum for announcements
and general agricultural health and safety issues, you would send
the following:
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Subject:
Message:
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By return e-mail you will receive confirmation of your request and
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To subscribe to the On-line News, your request would look like:
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1996-01-03 SOUTHEAST ASIAN SMALL FARMS & PESTICIDE
SAFETY OUTREACH
Southeast Asian farmers now have the same opportunities Spanish- and
English-speaking farmers have to learn about pesticide safety, thanks
to funding from the UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center. The
Center provided seed funds to help produce a variety of pesticide
safety materials for Southeast Asian growers in the San Joaquin Valley.
Mick Canevari and Bob Mullen, farm advisors for San Joaquin County,
with Jennifer Weber, a pesticide educator with the Statewide Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) program, met with members of the Southeast
Asian communities and sought translators familiar with agriculture
and pesticide use. Their efforts resulted in a 28-page publication,
available in four languages- Lao, Hmong, Cambodian and Laotian-which
was reviewed and approved by the United States EPA, California EPA,
Statewide IPM and San Joaquin Agricultural Commissioner, and meets
all federal, state and county pesticide regulations and procedures.
"A lot of pesticide safety materials are published in English and
Spanish, but none were available for the population of Southeast
Asian farmers in the San Joaquin Valley," said Weber. "This project
resulted in discussions on how to further our efforts by developing
workshops for the Southeast Asian growers."
The Center also helped fund an eight-page publication (currently
available in English only) outlining the most current pesticide
registration for use on insects, weeds and disease control options.
With the increased number of small farms growing specialty crops,
the demand for information on pest control options is also increasing.
This pamphlet, which was a joint effort by Canevari, Mullen and
Weber, along with statewide pesticide coordinator Michael Stimmann,
and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, highlights
the Pre-Harvest Interval (PHI) and Restricted Entry Interval (REI)
for each pesticide and crop listed.
"Our intent was to provide a quick reference guide for pest control
and to highlight the importance of signal words, harvest intervals
and field re-entry restrictions," said Principal Investigator Canevari.
"The main objective for producing Pest Control for Specialty Vegetable
Crops is to assist small farmers with less hazardous pesticides,
control options and emphasize the safe and legal restrictions of
pesticides."
All guides are available free of charge (while supplies last) at
county Cooperative Extension offices. The UC Small Farm Center and
Statewide IPM project will act as a clearinghouse for filling publication
requests and setting up statewide outreach meetings throughout the
year. The Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources provided
Canevari with an additional $10,000 to assist in the development
and translation of a video production dealing with pesticide safety
for small farms.
Mike Poe, director of DANR Communication Services, spent three
days filming on three Southeast Asian farms in Lodi and Stockton
late last summer. Refugee farmers and their families appeared on
camera to demonstrate safe practices and procedures for handling,
mixing and applying pesticides. The video, like the pesticide safety
manuals, will be translated from English to Hmong and Laotian. Editing
and translation requires several months and Canevari expects the
videotape to be available by June.
"The linguistic and cultural differences we encountered have influenced
the pace of our work on the projects," said Canevari. "However,
it has been gratifying to see the interest and support provided
by the Southeast Asian community and their willingness to participate.
This information is needed and greatly appreciated by the Asian
farming communities in California."
1996-01-04 ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL FARMERS
Small farms constitute more than three-quarters of the nearly 80,000
farms operating in the state of California. A "farm" is defined by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture as an enterprise
that produces or intends to produce $1,000 per year in agricultural
commodities. The small farm category encompasses a wide variety of
operations, ranging from small family farmers who bring their goods
to the farmers' market, to technologically advanced growers and ranchers.
The Small Farm Center at UC Davis has been responding to the needs
of California's small farmers since it was established in 1979.
The Small Farm Center's primary mission is to help small farmers
compete and survive by providing them with resources that allow
them to remain a dynamic, viable component of the communities in
which they operate. Agricultural economist Desmond Jolly became
director of the Small Farm Center last August. No stranger to the
Small Farm Center, he has been actively involved with its programs
for more than a decade, serving on its steering and executive committees.
Jolly sees farm safety as an important component of the Small Farm
Center.
"Our safety efforts have primarily centered around the use of agricultural
chemicals," said Jolly. "We are now beginning to develop a series
of publications on agricultural equipment, which will cover safety
issues as well."
The Small Farm Center serves as a clearinghouse for questions from
farmers, marketers, farm advisors, trade associations, government
agencies and the academic community. In addition, the Small Farm
Center
--maintains a library of books, scientific and popular journals,
reports, directories and periodicals covering production and marketing;
--publishes manuals, pro-ceedings, booklets, leaflets and a bimonthly
newsletter called Small Farm News; and
--organizes and coordinates statewide conferences, workshops, field
days and symposiums, and supports advisors, farmers' markets and
farm organizations in regional and local programs.
Jolly considers collaborative relationships with various programs
and organizations as integral to the operation of the Small Farm
Center. For example, he is currently working with Ag Center investigator
William Steinke, director of the Farm Safety Program at UC Davis,
to develop an improved pesticide spray pump designed to reduce over-spray
and loss in non-target agricultural operations.
"One of my objectives as a new director is to cultivate more collaborative
relationships with programs such as the UC Agricultural Health and
Safety Center," said Jolly. "The Small Farm Center and the Agricultural
Health and Safety Center are working toward the same basic goal,
and that is to improve the lives of farmers, in both productivity
and well-being." For more information on the Small Farm Center,
you can call Jolly at (916) 752-8136.
1995-01-05 AN ANALYSIS OF THE 1992 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE
In 1992, United States farmers and unpaid family members endured a
reported 490 fatalities and 20,430 injuries, while direct-hire farm
employees suffered 183 fatalities and 44,383 injuries, according to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Census of Agriculture. Don Villarejo,
director of the California Institute for Rural Studies and Center
investigator, questions the wide variance in the numbers between groups
of workers and that census numbers differ significantly from other
agricultural injury reports.
Villarejo initiated an interactive discussion during his presentation
"What can we learn about farm safety from the 1992 Census of Agriculture?"
at the Center's January 12 noon seminar. For the first time, a question
relating to injury and illness was included in the Census of Agriculture.
It read, "Were there any injuries or deaths connected with farm
or ranch work on or for this place in 1992? Report injuries that
required paid medical care, or resulted in lost work time or were
fatal. Do not report deaths or injuries to contract workers or custom
workers." The census, which is taken in years ending in two and
seven, is mailed every five years to all farms in 17 crop regions
of the United States. If survey recipients don't respond, they receive
a follow-up telephone call.
"The fact that this health and safety question was included is,
I think, a very important step forward," said Villarejo. "However,
a lot of ambiguities need to be clarified-notably why the numbers
are smaller than those reported by the Surgeon General or the National
Safety Council." For example, the National Safety Council reported
13,200 injuries per 100,000 FTE in direct-hire farm employees. The
Census of Agriculture indicated 5,125 injuries per 100,000 FTE in
direct-hire workers. In California about one of every three farm
workers is a contract employee working for a labor contractor, and
that enumeration is entirely missing from the census, observes Villarejo.
"It may explain some of the discrepancies between the census report
and other estimates, but I don't think it accounts for much of it,"
said Villarejo, who believes that direct-hire workers receive the
greatest exposure to potential injury. Evidence that supports Villarejo's
theory comes from the Department of Industrial Relations, which
shows lower rates of injury in contract employees than direct-hire
workers. Part of the reason appears to be the types of tasks that
direct-hire workers are asked to do-tractor driving, setting up
irrigation systems and other types of work involving equipment.
A typical farm labor contract employee does hand labor, such as
picking tomatoes or fruit, and the types of injuries resulting from
those tasks differ in severity, contends Villarejo.
Regardless of the discrepancies, the Census of Agriculture illuminated
some very critical findings, such as the fact that two-thirds of
the fatalities and injuries among farmers and unpaid family members
occur on livestock farms, and nine out of 10 of those injuries occur
on small- to medium- sized farms.
"This information is very significant in terms of our health and
safety efforts, because it shows us where we need to develop effective
interventions for these higher risk situations." The next Census
of Agriculture will be conducted in 1997. At the least, Villarejo
would like the wording on the census questions related to injuries
expanded to include "any injury on the farm that required medical
attention or lost time." Villarejo believes his observations and
those of others involved in agricultural health and safety will
make a noticeable influence.
"I think we can have some impact on what questions to include in
the 1997 census," said Villarejo. "But wouldn't it be nice if they
worded it exactly the way we want it worded?"
1995-01-06 NEW CENTER ASSISTANTS: CIRILLO &
HAMIEL
Center staff members are pleased to have on board Gregg Cirillo and
Jane Hamiel. Both transferred to the Center from research offices
at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Gregg most recently
served as an assistant research clinic manager, overseeing the administrative
management of the UC Davis General Internal Medicine Investigative
Clinic. Among his many responsibilities for the clinic, Gregg provided
facilities support, monitored employee relations, established and
implemented policies and procedures, maintain-ed security, and supervised
administrative support personnel.
Jane transferred from the Molecular and Cytogenetic Laboratory
in the Department of Pathology, where she served as a laboratory
assistant. In that capacity, she prepared buffers, reagents and
gels used in electrophoresis and pcr (polymerase chain reaction),
performed microscopic imaging and karyotyping of chromosomes, and
handled other laboratory functions. From 1986 to 1994, Jane served
as an administrative assistant for the UC Davis Department of Mechanical,
Aeronautical and Materials Engineering, supervising staff and students
and performing other administrative tasks.
Jane and Gregg provide all administrative support for the Center,
organizing seminars, conferences and other activities, as well as
coordinating and compiling information for the Center's upcoming
five-year competitive grant renewal. They assist the Center's editor
with the quarterly newsletter and are currently working to develop
a new library resource center. Jane and Gregg work in the Center's
administrative offices located in the ITEH Building off Old Davis
Road. For information about Center activities or programs, call
them at (916) 752-4050 or 752-5253.
1995-01-07 ROSE KREBILL-PRATHER TO ASSIST CENTER
INVESTIGATORS
A veteran sociologist with extensive experience in designing, managing
and conducting surveys has joined the Center to assist its investigators
in developing effective proposals to obtain funding and to help them
achieve their projects' intended goals.
Rose L. Krebill-Prather, a postgraduate researcher for the Statewide
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) project in the Division of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, UC Davis, has expanded her role with the
university by assisting the UC Agricultural Health & Safety
Center in preparing its funding renewal documentation for the National
Institute for Safety and Health (NIOSH).
"Evaluation in general has received much more attention in recent
years as funding sources have become tighter," said Rose. "Grantors
want to make sure that they are funding projects that meet intended
goals and make a meaningful contribution to society." Since January
1994, Rose has served as a consultant for IPM in designing and developing
program evaluations for various projects. She recommends appropriate
evalua-tion methodologies, oversees construction of evaluation instruments,
data collection and data management, and offers advice on analysis
and interpretation of evaluation results. She also assists researchers
in writing final reports.
Rose received her bachelor's degree in sociology from Montana State
University in 1983, then went on the earn master's and Ph.D. degrees
from Washington State University. She spent four years with the
Social Survey Research Unit at the University of Idaho, College
of Agriculture, where she developed and managed mail, face-to-face
interview and Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) surveys.
She also collaborated in data analysis and report writing.
In addition, Rose currently serves as an adjunct faculty/instructor
for Kings River Community College in Reedley, teaching courses in
Introduction to Sociology and American Minority Groups. Comments
from the Center's external evaluators have indicated that its investigators
should place more emphasis in their proposals on their intended
goals and research methodologies. Rose sees her role as similar
to that of a coach, helping the players achieve success without
making the plays for them.
"I think conducting an evaluation can sometimes be intimidating,
especially for someone who is not trained in the social sciences.
My training and experience as a sociologist has taught me how to
contact people and how to get the most useful information from them.
I'd like to share my knowledge with the Center's investigators so
they can be more effective in addressing health and safety issues."
1995-01-08 PROFILE OF VISITING RESEARCHERS: MIN
ZENG & ZHONG WU
Two researchers from the People's Republic of China have joined the
Center to assist in separate research projects concerning respiratory
diseases and the effects of agricultural exposures on birth defects.
Min Zeng, from Chengdu, Sichuan province, P.R. China, received
her medical bachelor (M.D. equiva-lent) and master's degrees from
Sichuan Medical College in 1982 and 1989 respectively. She began
conducting epidemio-logical research on birth defects in 1989 and
is currently on leave from her position as assistant professor and
director of the National Center for Birth Defect Monitor-ing at
West China University of Medical Sciences in Chengdu. In China,
Min was involved with birth defect monitoring projects in 470 hospit-als
in 30 provinces. Her research has revealed some of the factors,
such as radiation, noise and agricultural expo-sures, as contributing
to neural tube and cleft lip and palate birth defects, but the main
factor, she says, may be inherent. Min plans to work with Center
Director Marc Schenker for about a year on a project involving chemical
agricultural exposures and birth defects. Min's husband, Dejun Xu,
is a visiting biochemist at UC Davis, specializing in pharmacology.
The couple has a 6-year-old son named Luyuan Xu.
Zhong Wu came to UC Davis from Xiamen, Fujian Province, P.R. China.
He received his bachelor of medicine degree in 1988 from Shanghai
Medical University School of Public Health, where he specialized
in preventive medicine. His degree projects included the relationship
between fat and incidence of hypertension in children and the relationship
between microclimate and health. From 1991 to 1995, Zhong conducted
research at Xiamen Hygiene and Anti-Epidemic Center, Shanghai Medical
University. His research there led to publication of a study on
the quality of drinking water and high incidence of liver cancer.
Other research areas included sanitary and en-vironmental supervision
and water and air quality control, and drinking water treatment
and disin-fection. He received support from the China Association
for Inter-national Exchange of Personnel to study and work at UC
Davis, where he is currently assisting Center Direc-tor Marc Schenker
with a study involving respiratory diseases in farmers. Zhong plans
to pursue a research position in environ-mental health and epidemiology
for either a university or private industry before return-ing to
China. Zhong's wife, Shulan He, works as a representative for the
United States company Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in Xiamen. Zhong and
Shulan have a 3-year-old son, Rui Wu.
1995-01-09 STARCH FOUND TO PROTECT SKIN FROM HARMFUL
CHEMICALS
Ordinary laundry starch has been found to protect pesticide applicators
from harmful chemicals. Starch binds with chemical pesticides and
keeps them away from the skin until clothing can be washed. Additionally,
the starch-bound chemicals are easily washed from the clothing. Cotton
or cotton-polyester garments that have been starched provide a durable
finish that traps pesticides, prevents their transfer to the skin
and allows moisture vapor to be transported away from the skin.
Proper protective clothing should always be worn when applying
pesticides, and clothing used during pesticide application should
be washed separately from all other clothing. (Source: Kansas Pesticide
Newsletter, 17(6), by way of University of California Environmental
Toxicology News-letter, Feb. 1995).
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