RE: Farmworkers and PesticideExposure

[Guest guest]

I have some figures from the California Agricultural Worker Health

Survey, designed by Dr. Don Villarejo, that may shed some additional

insight into this discussion. 971 workers were interviewed in their

living quarters during the cropping season of 1999, with proportional

representation from all ag regions in California. In respect to

pesticide exposure and illness, the following was reported:

17.5% reported being knowingly over-exposed to pesticides in the past 12

months as defined by such symptoms as itchy eyes, burning eyes/skin,

very strong smell, nausea, etc.

3.6% reported being physically sickened by pesticides due to nausea,

etc.

1.2% sought treatment

I believe these figures represent reasonably valid data based on the

combination of techniques used by interviewers and the overall research

design. In addition, the proportionality betweeen each of the

categories is worth noting.

In terms of the denominator question, the number of farmworkers in CA

has been estimated in the 700,000 to 800,000 range, not including family

members. Dr. Alice Larson's 2000 enumeration for the Migrant Health

Program estimated 732,000. California has some of the most

comprehensive pesticide management regs in the nation but it also has

very pesticide intensive growing environments. Others can wegh in as to

whether these rates of exposure and illness are comparable to other

states and the nation as a whole.

As far as deaths, while the figure of 1,000 for acute FW deaths is

excessive, most would agree, the more relevant issue is premature deaths

from long-term exposure to pesticides, which has been much more

accurately estimated in the epidemiological studies done on farmers in

the Midwest and elsewhere (Blair et al. reported some compelling

findings from Nebraska farmers several decades ago in respect to soft

tissue sarcomas due to herbicide exposure, if my memory serves me

correctly). Unfortunately, its been very difficult to do this kind of

work with farmworkers.

In my dissertation research with 40 farmers in Iowa (2 hour personal

interviews) I found a number of cases of acute exposure incidents of the

participants or a neighbor, the most severe of which involved

insecticides based on nerve gas.

This grower should be commended for his excellent sleuthing and reminds

us all to be careful about our citation assumptions. However, there is

a nonetheless a good deal of physical trauma from pesticide exposure, it

appears, that never sees the light of day.

Lighthall, Ph.D.

Research Director

Relational Culture Institute

3485 W. Shaw, Suite 103

Fresno, CA 93711

530 304-0038 cell

559 276-2304 office

559 276-2304 fax

-----Original Message-----

From: Louise Mehler [mailto:lmehler@...]

Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 11:28 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] Farmworkers and PesticideExposure

I may as well begin the discussion by identifying myself as the source

of the data from which people extrapolate. I work with the California

Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program, and supply extracts from our

database to anyone who requests them.

I found Mr. Pawelski's research impressively thorough, and wish he would

identify the source of the late, lamented Dr. Kahn's 1977 reevaluation.

But I wonder how he accepted the figure of 1000 deaths a year so easily.

Death certificates are all collected and coded by the National Center

for Health Statistics. A 1997 publication* reviewed that among other

sources, and identified a total of 341 pesticide fatalities over a

six-year period, of which 64% were suicides. If our data are any

measure, not many of the rest were agricultural, either.

* Klein-Schwartz and , Agricultural and Horticultural Chemical

Poisonings: Mortality and Morbidity in the United States. ls of

Emergency Medicine 1997 Feb;29(2):232-8.

>>> Josh Shepherd <shepherd@...> 01/07/05 08:00AM >>>

Everyone,

We have recently received a couple of e-mails regarding the number of

farmworkers who are poisoned each year through exposure to pesticides.

I have included the following e-mail that Pawelski a grower in New

York state sent NCFH regarding this issue. I thought the e-group would

be a great forum to get responses back on this topic and to see if

anyone has further knowledge of the actual number of farmworkers being

poisoned each year via pesticides.

Josh Shepherd

Resource Center Manager

National Center for Farmworker Health

(512) 312-5463

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

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

Wanted to send this bit of research as an FYI. I'm still working on it

but I thought you might find what I have put together at this point to

be useful.

C.

The anatomy and evolution of a bogus factoid:

Recently I have come across a staggering claim regarding farmworkers and

pesticide exposure/poisoning. Based on my own anecdotal experiences it's

a claim so staggering I have a real hard time believing it. So, I did a

little research into it and I wanted to share what I found with farmers

and other interested parties.

Over the past few months I have found on the internet a number of

websites which state that an almost unbelievable number of farmworkers

in the U.S., 300,000, are injured or poisoned by pesticides. That's

300,000 poisoned each year, mind you. Most of these sites are somehow

connected with self-appointed farmworker advocates and their lobbying

activities or the anti-pesticide crowd. Here are just a few examples:

>From the United Church of Christ's website:

" Many farm workers are exposed to pesticides in the fields. The

Environmental Protection Agency estimates 300,000 farm workers

nationwide are sickened each year by pesticides. "

http://www.ucc.org/justice/boycotts/tbindepth.htm

Clarren's article " Fields of poison: while farmworkers are

sickened by pesticides industry writes the rules " (The Nation December

29, 2003 ) states:

" As many as 300,000 farmworkers are injured annually by pesticides, and

of these as many as 1,000 die, according to the most recent available

estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "

(The Nation does not have the article for free on its website but the

entire article can be found on the Environmental Working Group's

website):

http://www.ewg.org/news/story.php?id=2198

>From Gardenshare in NYS:

" Nationwide, some 300,000 are injured by pesticides each year, and of

these as many as 1,000 die. "

http://www.gardenshare.org/

http://www.gardenshare.org/farmworkers.html

>From ERICDigests.org:

" The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that as many as

300,000 farmworkers suffer from pesticide-related illnesses or injuries

each year (USGAO, 1992). "

http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-4/labor.htm

>From FARMWORKERS IN OREGON: A Study of the League of Women Voters of

Oregon Education Fund Fall 2000:

" Although both federal and state laws require safety measures and

equipment for those who handle pesticides, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) estimates each year 300,000 farmworkers suffer

acute pesticide poisoning in the U.S. "

http://www.open.org/~lwvor/Farmworkers2.htm

>From The International Relations Center publication " borderlines: "

" Over 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used annually in U.S.

agriculture, and according to a 1995 report published by the National

Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, these toxins are responsible

for more than 300,000 illnesses and 1,000 deaths in the farmworker

community each year. "

http://www.americaspolicy.org/borderlines/1998/bl49/bl49farm_body.html

>From Resist, Inc.:

" The major cause of farmworker illness is poisoning from the 1.2 billion

pounds of toxic pesticides that are now used in the United States on

virtually all commercial crops. A 1995 report by the National Institute

of Environmental Health Sciences found that pesticides were responsible

for more than 300,000 illnesses and 1,000 deaths among farmworkers each

year. "

http://www.resistinc.org/newsletter/issues/1998/12/afpl.html

>From the Georgia Strait Alliance (notice they include Canadian

farmworkers, with no source citation):

" More than 300,000 Canadian and US farmworkers are injured or made sick

by pesticides every year. "

http://www.georgiastrait.org/agrifood.php

>From the UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION of " PUBLIC COMMUNICATION on Labor Law

Matters Arising in the United States submitted to the National

Administrative Office (NAO) of Mexico under the North American Agreement

on Labor ation (NAALC): "

" According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, farmworkers suffer

the highest rate of chemical-related illness of any occupational group:

5.5 per 1,000 workers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

estimates that up to 300,000 farmworkers suffer acute illnesses from

pesticide poisoning each year. "

http://laboris.uqam.ca/anact/applecomplaint.htm

>From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children

in Immigrant Families (1998) Commission on Behavioral and Social

Sciences and Education (which is found on the National Academies Press

website):

" For migrant farmworkers, pesticides are an ever-present danger, with

1.2 billion pounds of pesticides used in U.S. agriculture annually. The

Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many as 300,000

farmworkers suffer from pesticide-related illnesses or injuries each

year (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1992). One New York study found

that one-third of the children interviewed who had worked in agriculture

the previous year had been injured by pesticides during that time period

(U.S. General Accounting Office, 1992). "

http://books.nap.edu/books/0309065615/html/74.html

>From Oxfam America (in their report Like Machines in the Fields:

Workers without Rights in American Agriculture):

" At work, farmworkers suffer higher rate of toxic chemical injuries than

workers in any other sector of the U.S. economy, with an estimated

300,000 farmworkers suffering pesticide poisonings each year. "

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/pdfs/labor_report_04.pdf

>From a study done at Michigan State University:

" The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 300,000 farm workers

suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year. "

http://www.polisci.msu.edu/kossek/migrantfarmworkers.pdf

>From the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education website (from a

study entitled " NAFTA'S LABOR SIDE AGREEMENT: Fading into Oblivion? An

Assessment of Workplace Health & Safety Cases):

" And the EPA (1992) estimates that nationally farm workers suffer up to

300,000 acute illnesses each year as a result of pesticide exposure. "

http://www.labor.ucla.edu/publications/nafta.pdf

>From PANNA's website in " Farmworkers Not Protected in U.S. Global

Pesticide Campaigner, February 1992. PANNA: "

" Testimony presented on July 17, 1991 before the U.S. House of

Representatives' Select Committee on Aging underscores what farmworkers

and their advocates have known for years: in the U.S., as in most other

countries, farmworkers are second-class citizens who suffer most

directly from pesticide use. ph Delfico of the U.S. General

Accounting Office (GAO) presented the following information: -- The EPA

estimates that agricultural workers suffer 20,000 to 300,000 acute

pesticide illnesses and injuries every year. (There is no national

system for tracking pesticide poisonings in the U.S.) "

http://www.panna.org/resources/pestis/PESTIS.burst.91.html

>From the National Center for Farmworker Health's website:

" The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 300,000 farmworkers

suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year. "

http://www.ncfh.org/aaf_03.php

I could give example, after example, after example, after example, after

example, after example, after example, after example, after example,

after example, after example, after example, after example, after

example, after example, after example, ....

And you can find them too. Just go to Google (http://www.google.com) and

search the following:

300,000 injured pesticides " each year " farm workers (or some other

variation)

Wow, 300,000 farmworkers routinely injured in the U.S., each and every

year, by pesticides? And 1,000 die each year? But, is it true? So many

sources repeat this " fact " so many times, it must be true, right? I

mean, even governmental agencies are saying other governmental agencies

report this, so, it really must be true, right?

Well ..., maybe not.

First, when multiple different official governmental agencies are cited

as the " source " for an incredible sounding statistic warning bells

should go off, especially when it is merely a claim that some other

organization stated it.

Second, when no one ever accurately and thoroughly cites the actual

document/study/source, (including author, publication, date the

publication was published, page numbers, link to the study, etc...)

well, then warning bells should scream that something isn't right.

With warning bells " a ringing " I decided to do a little fact checking of

my own. I first contacted via e-mail the EPA's Office of Pesticide

Programs and they stated to me, in an e-mail, the following:

" Thank you for your inquiry about the Environmental Protection Agency's

estimate of farm workers nationwide that are sickened each year by

pesticides. EPA has never set its estimate as high as 300,000 per year.

We estimated previously, based on physician-treated incidents, that

10,000 - 20,000 persons were made ill by pesticides each year. We

recognize that many experience some symptoms but do not seek medical

attention, but 300,000 seems too high. We are currently in the process

of revising our estimate, but the number will not be as high as that

cited on the UCC Web site. "

Well, that throws out the bulk of the claims. But what about the Bureau

of Labor Statistics? I contacted the Bureau of Labor Statistics

regarding Clarren's quote and the e-mail reply from the BLS stated:

" Thank you for your interest in data from the BLS Survey of Occupational

Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). I have searched through the recent Census

of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) as well as the SOII News Releases,

and have not been able to identify source of the data that you

reference. I have also searched through recent and past articles that

have been published in the BLS " Monthly Labor Review " and the

" Compensation on Working Conditions, " and have not found a reference to

this data. Without a specific time, periodical, or article source

reference, I cannot determine where this data was cited. If you can

provide more specific source information, we may be able to help you

with your request. "

In a follow-up e-mail (which was in response to all the material I have

gathered and put together regarding this bogus " factoid " ) the BLS

stated:

" Thank you for providing the additional information. After going over

the material below, I have found no source where the BLS printed the

information referenced below. "

Well, that just leaves the National Institute of Environmental Health

Sciences. I also contacted the NIEHS and the researcher at the NIEHS

(who spent a great deal of time and effort into my information request)

stated:

" Bottom line - NIEHS never wrote such a report claiming those

statistics. "

She added:

" However, I think the 300,000 number might be traced to one of two GAO

reports. In a February 1992 report titled Hired farmworkers: health and

well-being at risk (http://161.203.16.4/t2pbat7/145941.pdf), the GAO

states on p. 3, 'The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which

regulates pesticides and their uses, estimates that each year hired

farmworkers suffer up to 300,000 acute illnesses and injuries from

exposure to pesticides.'

The second report published almost two years later in December 1993 has

a rather altered version. In Pesticides on Farms: Limited Capability

Exists to Monitor Occupational Illnesses and Injuries

(http://161.203.16.4/t2pbat4/150612.pdf) states on p. 2, 'The national

estimates of farmers, farmworkers, and their families potentially

exposed to pesticides range from 3.2 to 4 million people. Such exposure

is either direct, through application activities (mixing, loading,

flagging, and equipment maintenance operations), or indirect, from

contact with residues on treated crop fields. EPA currently estimates

that there are at least 20,000 illnesses associated with the

occupational use of pesticides on farms each year in this country.

Others have published estimates placing the number as high as 300,000.'

Sadly, neither of these reports cite either the EPA document or other

sources for the statistics. Since the EPA appears to be the main

governmental source on pesticide exposure, I attempted to track down , i

their numbers. In one such citation, a link was made to the EPA's

Summary of Risk-Benefit Analysis section of the then proposed Worker

Protection Standard (57 FR 38102; Vol. 57, No. 163 / Friday, August

21,1992). It unfortunately was extremely vague, saying only that the

'EPA estimates that at least tens of thousands of acute illnesses and

injuries and a less certain number of delayed onset illnesses occur

annually to agricultural employees as the result of occupational

exposures to pesticides used in the production of agricultural plants.' "

As I researched this " factoid " I believe I found the initial " source "

for and the story behind this nonsense. It is detailed in the text of a

speech given by entomologist Dr. J. Gordon at Dartmouth College

on April 11, 1999. In the speech Dr. states:

" The EPA also falsely claimed, in a radio broadcast (May 15, 1975), that

'hundreds of thousands of American farm-workers are injured every year

by pesticides, and hundreds of them die annually as a result.' When

challenged by actual data, EPA meekly apologized, saying: 'We used those

statements in good faith, thinking they were accurate, and they turned

out not to be accurate.... They cannot possibly be substantiated' (UPI,

May 24, 1975).

But what evidence could have led anyone to make such a claim? {USA

Today} (April 14, 1992) printed an editorial using that same figure, and

attributed it to 'a Congressional study last month.' I wrote to the

editors, pointing out that the statement actually came from a World

Resources Institute press release seven years earlier! I quoted the two

WRI researchers who made the study ( Wasserstrom and

Wiles) but quit because of the untruthful figure of 300,000 in that

press release, which they said 'tells a story substantially different

from what we found' ({Chemical & Engineering News,} September 1985). The

300,000 figure was based on a report that 235 California

farm-workers had made medical complaints in 1982 (roughly half of the

complaints involved skin irritation from sulfur). Dr. Molly Coye (NIOSH)

extrapolated from 235 to 300,000 cases, as follows. Dr. Ephraim Kahn had

previously estimated that California doctors reported only about 1% of

such cases, so Molly Coye multiplied 235 by 100 and said 23,500

California workers must have actually had medical problems because of

pesticides during the year. That would be about 7.8% of California

farm-workers. Since there were about four million farm-workers in the

United States, she calculated 7.8% of 4 million, to arrive at a total of

312,000 'poisoned' farm-workers each year. Dr. Coye never mentioned Dr.

Kahn's well-known, year-long study in 1977, wherein he concluded that

80% of farm-worker illnesses are reported (rather than his earlier

estimate of 1%). As usual, {USA Today} did not respond to my letter or

the enclosed documentation of facts. "

http://www.aboutsudan.com/issues/biological_holocaust/science_ddt_pestic

ides.htm

In a similar speech (entitled " EPA AND THE REASONABLE CERTAINTY OF NO

HARM: Prepared for address to Doctors for Disaster Preparedness " ) given

on June 6, 1999 in Seattle, Washington, Dr. added the following:

" Based on the 80% level, the 235 California complaints would extrapolate

to 300 California cases instead of Coye's propaganda figure of 23,500

(and to less than 4,000 cases nationwide, instead of 312,000). "

http://www.oism.org/ddp/epa.doc

Interestingly, an author behind one of the pieces I cited above, in an

e-mail response to issues raised by me, did produce one EPA reference,

sort of, for this " factoid. " She stated, " here is one source for this

300,000 reference that my co author Dr. Meece found. " The document is

" Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk For All Communities: Volume 1 :

Workgroup Report To The Administrator " and this is what it states:

" However, it is estimated that as many as 313,000 farm workers

experience pesticide related illnesses each year, (Wasserstrom and'

Wiles, 1985; Perfecto, 1990). "

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/ej/reducing_risk_co

m_vol1.pdf

First, not to dismiss the value of this material, but, this was not a

scientific group conducting and reporting epidemiological research

connected with farmworkers and pesticide exposure. This was a social

science group, not necessarily experts in the field of epidemiology,

examining social science and policy issues surrounding " environmental

equity. " The introduction to the Report stated " concerns have been

raised about the relative risk burden borne by low-income and racial

minority communities. " It defined " environmental equity " as " the

examination of the differences in risk burden and how government

agencies respond " to the differences. That was the focus of this EPA

workgroup project. To emphasize, this was not an epidemiological work or

piece of research.

Second, the document does not state that the " EPA estimates " or the EPA

itself has found to be true that roughly 300,000 farm workers suffer

acute pesticide poisoning each year. It doesn't say that because, as

previously outlined, the EPA hasn't itself researched and reached that

estimate or conclusion. No, the document merely reports that another

source estimates " as many as 313,000 farm workers experience pesticide

related illnesses each year. "

In fact, when you examine the end note in the EPA document it doesn't

even cite the original source of this information. The end note actually

states:

" Wasserstrom, R.F. and R. Wiles, 1985. Field Duty, U.S. Farm Workers and

Pesticide Safety. World Resources Institute, Center for Policy Research,

Study 3. -As cited in: I. Perfecto, 1990. " Pesticide Exposure of Farm

Workers and the International Connection "

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/ej/reducing_risk_co

m_vol1.pdf

This is the study, " U.S. Farm Workers and Pesticide Safety, " which was

the World Resources Institute study that Dr. referred to. It is

the original source. But the EPA document does not cite Wasserstrom and

Wiles's original research. No, it cites Dr. Ivette Perfecto's

work/citation ( " As cited in: " ) of the initial World Resources

Institute's research.

So, what we in fact have here is a single EPA document, a non

epidemiological work, citing a piece of research which cites another

piece of research, which supposedly claimed roughly 300,000 farmworkers

are poisoned each year in the U.S. by pesticides. But, as previously

stated, according to the September 1985 issue of Chemical & Engineering

News, the authors of that initial study, Wasserstrom and Wiles, felt

that the 300,000 claim " tells a story substantially different from what

was in the epidemiologic record " and they quit WRI over this

misrepresentation of the findings of the research.

Now, it took me all of an hour or two to find the bulk of this

information and to discern or find out the following:

a. The claim that " 300,000 farm workers nationwide are sickened each

year by pesticides " is bogus.

b. No reputable government agency ever actually made that statement as

" cited " despite what all of these dubious sources claimed.

c. What the original source for this often repeated but untrue " factoid "

is.

Again, I was able to find all of the above, a, b, and c, in about an

hour or two of research, using only Google. And I am not a trained

journalist. And I am not a publication that is supposed to employ fact

checkers which supposedly check the accuracy of articles before

publication. And I don't have access to superior search engines like

Lexis-Nexis. And I'm not currently attending or employed by a college or

university writing a report that will be published and possibly peer

reviewed.

So, what is the excuse of all of these publications, journalists,

members of the academy and other sources for repeating this clearly

unsubstantiated " factoid? "

I guess the lesson here is that if a LIE (and that's what this is, a

lie) is repeated often enough, and no one really challenges the lie,

then the lie becomes a " factoid " or the truth. You see, it's easy to lie

about this as well. You can claim " 300,00 " get sick and then cover it up

with the claim that the injuries are grossly under reported. Of course,

the claim of gross under reporting of farmworker illnesses is an easy

lie to state as well, even though, as Dr. reports, it has been

refuted.

What's interesting though (and this doesn't seem to bother anyone) is

that though a staggering figure of 300,000 is used regarding farmworkers

injured by pesticides, it would appear an unusually low number is used

regarding deaths. " Roughly 1,000 " is claimed frequently. Of course this

makes sense because though you can lie by stating 300,000 farmworkers

are routinely poisoned by pesticides in the U.S. each year, and you can

back that lie with the equally unverifiable lie that the number is so

high because of gross under reporting of farmworker illness, but it's

hard to lie about deaths. You see, if you claim that 5,000, or 10,000,

or 20,000, or 40,000, or 60,000 or whatever number of farmworkers die

from pesticide injury each year, well, you better produce the bodies to

back the claim. And since it's very hard to lie about dead bodies, you

see the very low estimated death count.

Of course, you could lie about the low death count by claiming

farmworkers are being secretly buried in unmarked graves across the

country, but, that might be one lie too hard to swallow.

But, given this crowd, I wouldn't be surprised to see that sort of lie

one day in the not so far future.

Chris

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[Guest guest]

> We speak together and offer our ideas at the same time. Six

individual

> contributions to Digest Numbers 882 and 883 don't show much

support for the

> idea of list-serve members as " this crowd. " Nice job and

thanks to Chris

> for starting this off. I enjoyed the reading exchange.

>

> V Bletzer

> Medical Anthropologist

Indeed. I don't know whether the grower, is on this list

or not, but he has done a service to anyone who is willing to cite literature

without first scrutinizing its meaning. So the " factoid " is

bogus.

I think its fair to say that crows about finding the information

on Google, so I thought it only fair game to Google him. I found he is

formally trained in media, and, as a representative of farmers in his area, has

successfully lobbied for millions of federal relief dollars following drought

in the Lower Hudson Valley,

and has been on electronic and print media repeatedly. He knows how to

burst a bubble, and is angry about misinformation used against the farming

industry. The spread of misinformation he notes is exactly the type of

thing that he's passionate about combating (and who can blame him?), and it's

understandable that he makes his point at length. Dealing with

misinformation makes an intelligent discussion so much more

difficult.

However, as shows, there is good information. While not

inviting contention, I would respond to (or anyone from " this "

or " that " crowd) by asking the question, " How much morbidity and

mortality due to pesticide is OK? " " Why don't farmers, researchers,

and policy makers put their energy into finding alternatives to using

poison? " “Is there an adequate venue for discussion on these

topics?”