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Lifetime Organophosphorous Insecticide Used among Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study
Citation:
HOPPIN, J., S. Long, D. Umbach, J. Lubin, S. Starks, F. Gerr, K. W. THOMAS, C. Hines, S. Weichenthal, F. Kamel, S. Koutros, M. Alavanja, L. Freeman, AND D. SANDLER. Lifetime Organophosphorous Insecticide Used among Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology . Nature Publishing Group, London, Uk, 22(6):584-592, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Organophosphorous insecticides (OPs) are the most commonly used insecticides in US agriculture, but little information is available regarding specific OP use by individual farmers. We describe OP use for licensed private pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) using lifetime pesticide use data from 701 randomly selected male participants collected at three time periods. Of 27 OPs studied, 20 were used by 41%. Overall, 95% had ever applied at least one OP. The median number of different OPs used was 4 (maximum ¼ 13). Malathion was the most commonly used OP (74%) followed by chlorpyrifos (54%). OP use declined over time. At the first interview (1993--1997), 68% of participants had applied OPs in the past year; by the last interview (2005--2007), only 42% had. Similarly, median annual application days of Ops declined from 13.5 to 6 days. Although OP use was common, the specific OPs used varied by state, time period, and individual. Much of the variability in OP use was associated with the choice of OP, rather than the frequency or duration of application. Information on farmers’ OP use enhances our ability to characterize and understand the potential health effects of multiple OP exposures.
URLs/Downloads:
Lifetime Organophosphorous Insecticide Used among Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health StudyJournal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
