title: Variability in the take-home pathway: farmworkers and non-farmworkers and their children.
abstract: Organophosphate pesticides (OPs) are related to ill health among adults, including farmworkers who are exposed to OPs as part of their regular work. Children of both farmworkers and non-farmworkers in agricultural communities may also be affected by pesticide exposure. Study groups of 100 farmworkers with a referent child (aged 2-6 years) and 100 non-farmworkers with a referent child were recruited to participate in three data collection periods over the course of a year. At each collection, participants provided three urine samples within 5 days, and homes and vehicles were vacuumed to collect pesticide residues in dust. In thinning and harvest seasons, farmworkers and their children had higher dimethyl urinary metabolites than non-farmworkers and their children. During the non-spray season, the urinary metabolites levels decreased among farmworkers to a level comparable to that of non-farmworkers. Farmworkers consistently had higher pesticide residues in their home and vehicle dust. Differences exist between farmworkers and non-farmworkers in urinary metabolites, and the differences extended throughout the agricultural seasons.OP metabolites are seen at much higher levels for farmworkers and their children than for non-farmworkers and their children during agricultural seasons when OPs are in use. These metabolite levels were significantly higher than the nationwide NHANES IV survey and up to 10-fold higher than other rural agricultural studies.
authors.affiliation: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Beti
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Dana B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.affiliation: The Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: Gloria D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Coronado
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Vigoren
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Elaine M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Faustman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D010575:Pesticides