It could be a father hugging his children after a days work in the tobacco field, or pesticide residue on his clothing washed with family laundry. Maybe it was children playing in farming fields outside their homes. A new study suggests all could be factors in high levels of pesticide exposure detected in children of migrant workers in eastern North Carolina, where an estimated 21,000 people in the heart of the state s agriculture industry work in vast fields of tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce.

Educating workers and pushing for more enforcement of safety laws are central to protecting workers and their children from chemicals, experts say. "We know that exposure to these pesticides creates all kinds of problems, we just dont know exactly how much," said Thomas A. Arcury, lead researcher for a study conducted by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

The study analyzed urine samples from 60 children between the ages of 1 and 6 who lived with migrant farm workers in six North Carolina counties in 2004. The study looked for specific metabolites the body produces after being exposed to pesticides. The study found the metabolite level in the North Carolina children was generally higher than the national averages of slightly older children, the only comparison data available, and either the same or higher than levels found in similar studies in Washington state, California, Texas and Oregon.

Scientists werent sure if the levels were high enough to cause harm, the study said. Researchers concluded the results "are of concern," because exposure to pesticides has been linked to health issues ranging from nausea to cancer, problems in lung and brain development, and even death. "This information is helpful, but its only a snapshot at a particular time," said Allan Noe, spokesman for CropLife America, a trade group of pesticide manufacturers. He noted that some of the national comparison data goes back to 1999.

But advocates said the study would be helpful in pressuring officials to focus on enforcement of safety rules, said Fawn Pattison, executive director of the Agricultural Resources Center, a nonprofit that supports the use of nontoxic pesticides in North Carolina. "It certainly informs policy makers, and the officials charged with regulating this industry, about dealing with the health and environmental questions that are exposed by this research," Pattison.

Programs to educate farmworkers and farmers about pesticide safety have been under way for years, but with the recent surge in immigration -- North Carolina saw its illegal immigrant population grow 43 percent to 300,000 from 2000 to 2004, according to the Pew Hispanic Center -- advocates say the need to educate workers has increased.

"Most of them come from Mexico, but little groups of them come from all over the world, and a lot of them travel with their families," said Omar Lainez, community education coordinator with Legal Aid North Carolinas Farm Unit. The nonprofit group visits migrant and seasonal farmworkers at camps, sometimes set up near crop fields, to teach them about pesticide safety and the legal remedies available, such as the right to ask employers for proper safety equipment and what pesticides are used, Lainez said.

"The workers normally dont say anything, because theyre afraid," he said, adding that has seen empty pesticide containers near or inside homes. "Theres a lot of lack of education out there." Education efforts focus on three areas: parents who work in fields and bring home pesticides in clothing, living in substandard housing where pesticides may be used to combat insects and rodents, and living near fields where pesticides may drift or children may play.

CropLife America completed a two-year education effort in February to distribute booklets and DVDs in English and Spanish about pesticide safety in counties with large agricultural populations, Noe said. Concern has heightened since three workers for Ag-Mart, which grows tomatoes in eastern North Carolina, had babies with serious birth defects. A state report released in May said pesticide exposure may have caused the defects, but stopped short of making a conclusive link.

Wake Forest researchers hope their study will add to the growing stockpile of information about pesticide use and children, who may be at greater risk from small doses of chemicals that can harm their developing brains and lungs. "Its the larger picture," said Arcury, who directs the school s Department of Family and Community Medicine. "I think we need to do a better job of educating farmworkers."

The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an agency of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of Centers for Disease Control.
(Environmental News Service, 20/07/2006)