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UC Agricultural Health & Safety Center at Davis

AgHealthNews

Issue Number 2000-02
Spring-Summer 2000

2000-02-01 Table of Contents

2000-02-02 Welcome and Introduction

2000-02-03 Study shows that majority of California farmers remain unprotected against ag hazards

2000-02-04 New York center hosts ag health & safety conference

2000-02-05 Textile scientist investigating new fabric treatments for pesticide protection

2000-02-06 Migrant children face health and safety issues

AgHealthNews is an electronic version of the Center's quarterly newsletter. 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 the Center's quarterly newsletter.

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The study, titled "Use of Protective Equipment Among California Farmers," was prompted in part by National Safety Council Statistics showing that only the U.S. mining/quarrying industry in 1999 had an occupational death rate higher than that of agriculture, which averaged 22.1 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Participants in the investigation ranged in age from 21 to 90, with a median age of 54.4 years. Three-quarters were owner-operators of farms, while 13.4 percent were co-owners, 7.3 percent were hired managers, and 4.9 percent were operators. The vast majority--87.7 percent--were white, while 6.2 percent reported their ethnicity as Hispanic. Asians and Pacific islanders composed 4.7 percent of the study group, 0.2 percent of whom were Black and 0.8 percent of whom were either American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut.

Sun exposure poses a significant hazard. Study participants reported spending a median 75 percent of their time in the sun. Although more than 70 percent said they wear hats with sun brims (typically, baseball caps) more than half the time, 69.4 percent of participants said they rarely or never use sunscreen. Only 35.7 percent said they wear long-sleeved shirts more than half the time. While women are more likely than men to use sunscreen or wear long-sleeved garments, they are less likely to wear a hat.

Statistics about protection from dust were even more discouraging. Only 18 percent of participants said they use some form of dust protection-such as a scarf, disposable dust mask or cartridge respirator-more than half the time when working in dusty conditions. The study revealed that farmers under age 40 are more likely than older farmers to take adequate dust protection measures.

While 72 percent of the farmers said they spend at least 5 percent of their time in noisy conditions, only 22.8 percent wear ear protection more than half the time, and 56.3 percent said they rarely or never use hearing protection. The majority of farm workers likewise fail to seek adequate protection from tractor-related accidents. In 1998, the National Safety Council attributed 37 percent of all deaths on farms to accidents involving tractors. Most farm operators in the study did not have roll-over protection bars (ROPs) installed on their tractors. Only 35.4 percent had ROPs installed on their primary tractor, and the percentages decreased for additional tractors. While 15.8 percent of primary tractors were equipped with enclosed cabs, only 12.6 percent of second tractors and 11.4 percent of third tractors had them. Use of seatbelts likewise declined among supplementary tractors. The study revealed that younger farmers were more likely than older farmers to be better protected while driving tractors; men were better protected than women; and farmers who live off the farm work under safer tractor conditions than farmers who live on the farm.

Although age is somewhat of a demographic predictor of better use of protective measures, no single demographic subgroup emerged as notably more health- and safety-conscious than others. However, concern about potential hazards or health conditions appears to be a motivating factor in the use of protective measures. Farmers who are more concerned about specific health problems are more likely than others to use protective measures or equipment when working with hazards relevant to those specific health problems.

The findings of the study therefore suggest that programs to increase awareness of farm safety and occupational hazards constitute an effective means of persuading farmers to use protective equipment. No scientific studies have demonstrated a correlation between public health education programs and reduction of risk on farms. But most of the operators are well-educated; 62.9 percent attended at least some college, and 27.3 percent are high-school graduates. That level of educational training among California farm operators suggests that an aggressive public education program could indeed prove effective in increasing use of agricultural safety measures.

From left: Barry Wilson and Stephen McCurdy discuss health and safety issues with David Lighthall, director of the California Institute for Rural Studies.

Davis Center Director Marc Schenker (left) and Jay Wilkens from Ohio State University.

Keynote speakers addressed challenges for the future. Nathan Rudgers, Commissioner of New York State Agriculture and Markets, illustrated some of the risks and strategies for farmers as they try to maintain families and farming enterprises in an unpredictable and unforgiving environment. Dr. Paul Gunderson, director emeritus of the Marshfield Medical Research Foundation of Marshfield Clinic, addressed implications of the agricultural revolution on health and safety. Among other changes, Dr. Gunderson anticipates that agricultural dust-related diseases will decline as strides are made to improve air quality in work environments such as tractor cabs.

The Davis Center was well rep-resented at the conference, which was held at the Otesaga Resort Hotel on Otsego Lake in Cooperstown. Attendees included Center investigators Marc Schenker, Barry Wilson, Stephen McCurdy, Patrick O'Connor-Marer, John Miles and Kiyoung Lee.

In collaboration with Maria Stoecklin, Cathy Saiki and Marla Orenstein, Dr. Schenker reported on respiratory symptoms and their strong association with work ability and functional status among farmers. Dr. Wilson reported on his work on standardizing cholinesterase measurements in field situations. Dr. McCurdy's group, including Drs. Diane Mitchell, Stephen Samuels and Marla Orenstein, reported on injury findings among California farmers in 1997-1998.

Center Outreach Coordinator Patrick O'Connor-Marer presented a poster "Assessing Effectiveness of Train-the-Trainer Workshops for Delivering Pesticide Safety Training" based on a study he co-conducted with Rose L. Krebill-Prather, a sociologist and program evaluator for the UC Statewide IPM Project.

In addition to its scientific content, the meeting had an enjoyable social aspect. A reception was held at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, followed by a formal dinner at the Otesaga Resort Hotel. The dinner speaker was Kathryn Boardman, who entertained guests with stories of local agricultural history and music.

The Cooperstown meeting succeeded in bringing together a large number of agricultural health and safety researchers from the nine NIOSH centers in a scientifically and especially stimulating setting.

Protective clothing constitutes one approach to protect agricultural workers against dermal exposure to pesticides. Recent attempts in the development of pesticide-protective clothing have been focused on the use of a garment, usually made of disposable, non-permeable synthetic materials, as a barrier system. These garments, which protect the wearer by forming an encasement that pesticides cannot penetrate, have been proven effective for pesticide mixers, loaders and applicators who are frequently subjected to high exposures to chemicals. However, such a synthetic barrier system may generate heat stress in workers.

Center investigator Gang Sun, assistant professor of textiles and clothing at UC Davis, has been working on methods to develop lower-cost protective clothing for farmworkers that will detoxify pesticides and microbes while dramatically minimizing heat stress. His research, funded by a grant administered through the Agricultural Health and Safety Center, has two objectives:

"Halamine compounds, functionally similar to active chlorine but more stable and less labile, are widely used in swimming pool industries as oxidative disinfectants," says Sun. "Chlorine or halamine compounds can effectively decompose pesticides into small fragments."

Surface contact of pesticides with materials occurs in both permeation and sorption of pesticides on the fabrics, which provides opportunities for chemical detoxification on the surface of the materials. When pesticides permeate or penetrate porous materials, they come in contact with large surface areas of fibrous materials. With sufficient contact time, some slow reactions can occur. But if a reactive chemical is permanently incorporated into the surface of a fabric while leaving the integrated fabric properties undisturbed, chemical detoxification of pesticides becomes feasible.

Although the movement and infiltration of pesticides are allowable within the reactive textile materials, they may be controlled by a combination of waterproofing finish agents in the fabric finishing solutions. Therefore, the new textile materials can achieve the comfort properties and multiple functions needed for protection.

"Our preliminary study has clearly indicated that the treated fabrics detoxify pesticides promptly and effectively, and confirmed our proposed strategies in setting up the research objectives," said Sun. "We are becoming more confident of the outcomes of the research, given that the approach is scientifically innovative and achievable, and economically practical and acceptable to farmworkers as well."

Sun's investigation into the development of a protective clothing fabric for farmworkers that detoxifies pesticides and microbes continues in collaboration with researchers in the Statewide IPM Project. For more information, contact Sun at (530) 752-0840 or e-mail gysun@ucdavis.edu.

Migrant children travel throughout much of the United States during several months of the year. They work and play in commercial vegetable fields, fruit groves and other businesses where their parents find seasonal work.

The National Agricultural Workers' Survey data of 1989 estimated there were 587,000 children of migrant workers age 21 or younger involved in seasonal agricultural services in the United States. Of these children, 65 percent travel with their parents but do not do farm work; 6 percent travel and participate in farm work; and another 29 percent travel on their own to do farm work.

And yet, migrant children remain an almost invisible part of our communities, according to Martha Vela, PhD, staff scientist of the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, a program of Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, WI.

"Migrant families live in small spaces, with crowded living conditions and little land space for their children to play," Dr. Vela said. "There are hazards for migrant children not only in the fields but also in their housing." Dangers exist in chemical exposures, wells for drinking water with high nitrogen and dangerous equipment, including knives, Dr. Vela added.

Approximately 100 children younger than 20 years of age die of agricultural injuries on U.S. farms and ranches annually and more than 100,000 children are injured. In addition, a third to a half of nonfatal childhood agricultural injuries occur to children who do not live on farms.

Who is responsible for the health and safety of the migrant children? Dr. Vela said the responsibility lies with many, including the grower, community, government, worker and children.

"I think children are a big responsibility for the community," she said. Dr. Vela encouraged people in the community to ask, "What can I do for the person whose hands made it possible for me to have this dinner plate in front of me?" "More than 80 percent of our food is hand harvested," she added.

Communities where migrant families work should be aware of their presence, said Dr. Vela. "The community can play a big role, and a good role in improving the living conditions of migrant families."

Dr. Vela suggested that a diversity exchange between youth of the community and youth of migrant families would be a positive step. "It would be such an enrichment for both of them," she said. "It would go a long way toward solving the isolation that migrant children feel."

Already some churches have opened their doors and offered special programs to migrant children, but more people need to get involved. "This is a circle," she said. "We all have to work together as a whole. I think if we can embrace that, we can all do something to improve life for migrant children."

Some solutions for improving the quality of life for migrant children and their families lie in the answers to these questions: 1) How can the community make that link? 2) How do we make the effort worthwhile for the grower? 3) How do we make the migrant lifestyle low risk for children? 4) How can we help?

For more information about health and safety issues of migrant children, contact the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety at 888-924-SAFE or 715-389-4999 or visit their web site at http://research.marshfieldclinic.org/children.

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