[OEM] JAMA: School Pesticide Use Sickens Children (fwd)

[Guest guest]

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

JAMA. 2005;294:455-465.

Vol. 294 No. 4, July 27, 2005

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/4/455

Acute Illnesses Associated With Pesticide Exposure at Schools

Walter A. Alarcon, MD; Geoffrey M. Calvert, MD; Jerome M. Blondell, PhD;

Louise N. Mehler, MD; Sievert, BS; Propeck, BS; Dorothy

S. Tibbetts, MPH, MS; Alan Becker, MPH; Lackovic, MPH;

B. Soileau, MS; Rupali Das, MD; Beckman, BS; Dorilee P. Male, BS;

L. Thomsen, MPH; Martha Stanbury, MSPH

Context Pesticides continue to be used on school property, and some

schools are at risk of pesticide drift exposure from neighboring farms,

which leads to pesticide exposure among students and school employees.

However, information on the magnitude of illnesses and risk factors

associated with these pesticide exposures is not available.

Objective To estimate the magnitude of and associated risk factors for

pesticide-related illnesses at schools.

Design, Setting, and Participants Analysis of surveillance data from

1998 to 2002 of 2593 persons with acute pesticide-related illnesses

associated with exposure at schools. Nationwide information on

pesticide-related illnesses is routinely collected by 3 national

pesticide surveillance systems: the National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health's Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational

Risks pesticides program, the California Department of Pesticide

Regulation, and the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System.

Main Outcome Measures Incidence rates and severity of acute

pesticide-related illnesses.

Results Incidence rates for 1998-2002 were 7.4 cases per million

children and 27.3 cases per million school employee full-time

equivalents. The incidence rates among children increased significantly

from 1998 to 2002. Illness of high severity was found in 3 cases (0.1%),

moderate severity in 275 cases (11%), and low severity in 2315 cases

(89%). Most illnesses were associated with insecticides (n = 895, 35%),

disinfectants (n = 830, 32%), repellents (n = 335, 13%), or herbicides

(n = 279, 11%). Among 406 cases with detailed information on the source

of pesticide exposure, 281 (69%) were associated with pesticides used at

schools and 125 (31%) were associated with pesticide drift exposure from

farmland.

Conclusions Pesticide exposure at schools produces acute illnesses

among school employees and students. To prevent pesticide-related

illnesses at schools, implementation of integrated pest management

programs in schools, practices to reduce pesticide drift, and adoption

of pesticide spray buffer zones around schools are recommended.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------

See also, BBC coverage http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4718015.stm

[Earlier at BBC, Pesticide Use Link to Parkinson's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4579021.stm

Pesticides Linked to Child Cancer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3632002.stm]

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-26-pesticides-sickening-kids

_x.htm

July 27, 2005

CHICAGO -- Pesticide use in or near U.S. schools sickened more than

2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period and, though

most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a nationwide

report found.

Sources of the illnesses include chemicals to kill insects and weeds on

school grounds, disinfectants and farming pesticides that drift over

nearby schools, according to the report by researchers at the National

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and their colleagues.

Lead author Walter Alarcon said one of the largest recent incidents

occurred in May when about 600 students and staff members were evacuated

from an Edinburg, Texas, elementary school after pesticides sprayed on a

cotton field drifted into the school's air-conditioning system. About 30

students and nine staffers developed mild symptoms including nausea and

headaches.

The study, which appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical

Association, covers events from 1998 to 2002 -- but none as big as the

Texas incident, Dr. Alarcon said.

Activists seeking to reduce pesticide use contend many commonly used

pesticides, including some involved in the study incidents, can increase

risks for cancer, birth defects and nerve damage. " The chronic long-term

impacts of pesticide exposures have not been comprehensively evaluated;

therefore, the potential for chronic health effects from pesticide

exposures at schools should not be dismissed, " the authors wrote.

Still, the overall rate of pesticide illnesses in schools is small --

7.4 cases per million children and 27.3 cases per million school

employees, the authors said.

Jay Vroom, president of CropLife America, which represents suppliers of

farming pesticides, said the report is alarmist and that pesticide use

around schools " is well-regulated and can be managed to a level that

does not present an unreasonable health risk. "

, president of RISE, a trade group for makers of pesticides

used in schools, faulted the study for relying on unverified reports and

said the numbers nonetheless suggest that incidents are " extremely

rare. "

The authors tallied reports from three pesticide surveillance systems,

including a national database of calls to poison control centers and

found that 2,593 students and school employees developed

pesticide-related illnesses in the five years studied. Only three

illnesses were considered severe.

Most of the illnesses were in children. The number of children affected

each year climbed from 59 to 104 among preschoolers and from 225 to 333

among children aged 6 to 17.

" I don't think we want to overwhelm people, but the study does provide

evidence that using pesticides at schools is not innocuous and that

there are better ways to use pesticides,'' said study co-author Geoffrey

Calvert.

Barnett of the Healthy Schools Network advocacy group said the

total is likely a " deep undercount " because there are about 54 million

U.S. schoolchildren and yet no comprehensive national tracking system.

The authors said the study underscores the need to reduce pesticide use

through pest management programs that typically require schools to use

pesticides as a last resort and to implement advance written

notification when the chemicals are used. The guidelines also often

recommend that spraying in schools or in nearby fields should occur only

when students and staffers are not present.

Laws in 17 states recommend or require schools to have such programs,

according to Jay Feldman, executive director of the Beyond Pesticides

advocacy group.

Copyright © 2005 Associated Press

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~