title: Is organic farming safer to farmers' health? A comparison between organic and traditional farming.
abstract: Exposure to pesticides is a major public health concern, because of the widespread distribution of these compounds and their possible long term effects. Recently, organic farming has been introduced as a consumer and environmental friendly agricultural system, although little is known about the effects on workers' health. The aim of this work was to evaluate genetic damage and immunological alterations in workers of both traditional and organic farming. Eighty-five farmers exposed to several pesticides, thirty-six organic farmers and sixty-one controls took part in the study. Biomarkers of exposure (pyrethroids, organophosphates, carbamates, and thioethers in urine and butyrylcholinesterase activity in plasma), early effect (micronuclei in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, T-cell receptor mutation assay, chromosomal aberrations, comet assay and lymphocytes subpopulations) and susceptibility (genetic polymorphisms related to metabolism - EPHX1, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 - and DNA repair-XRCC1 and XRCC2) were evaluated. When compared to controls and organic farmers, pesticide farmers presented a significant increase of micronuclei in lymphocytes (frequency ratio, FR=2.80) and reticulocytes (FR=1.89), chromosomal aberrations (FR=2.19), DNA damage assessed by comet assay (mean ratio, MR=1.71), and a significant decrease in the proportion of B lymphocytes (MR=0.88). Results were not consistent for organic farmers when compared to controls, with a 48% increase of micronuclei in lumphocytes frequency (p=0.016) contrasted by the significant decreases of TCR-Mf (p=0.001) and %T (p=0.001). Our data confirm the increased presence of DNA damage in farmers exposed to pesticides, and show as exposure conditions may influence observed effects. These results must be interpreted with caution due to the small size of the sample and the unbalanced distribution of individuals in the three study groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: cstcosta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Department of Psychobiology, University of A Coruña, Edificio de Servicios Centrales de Investigación, Campus Elviña s/n, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Lestón
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Patrícia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences UNL, Rua da Junqueira 100, 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pingarilho
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Department of Psychobiology, University of A Coruña, Edificio de Servicios Centrales de Investigación, Campus Elviña s/n, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Via di Val Cannuta, 247, 00166 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valdiglesias
authors.affiliation: Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Via di Val Cannuta, 247, 00166 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mattei
authors.affiliation: Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Via di Val Cannuta, 247, 00166 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dall'Armi
authors.affiliation: Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Via di Val Cannuta, 247, 00166 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonassi
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Department of Psychobiology, University of A Coruña, Edificio de Servicios Centrales de Investigación, Campus Elviña s/n, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Blanca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laffon
authors.affiliation: Biomonitoring and Health Assessment Branch of the Division of Applied Research and Technology, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226, United States of America.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Snawder
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Portuguese National Institute of Health, Rua Alexandre Herculano, 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: João Paulo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D004249:DNA Damage; D005260:Female; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D058871:Organic Agriculture; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D010575:Pesticides; C413545:glutathione S-transferase T1
keywords: Biomarkers; Genotoxicity; Immunotoxicity; Organic farming; Pesticides