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.

David 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
To: migrant_health_research@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [migrant_health_research] 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 Smith, Agricultural and Horticultural Chemical
Poisonings: Mortality and Morbidity in the United States. Annals 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 Chris 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

Rebecca 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 Cooperation (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. Joseph 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 Edwards at Dartmouth College
on April 11, 1999. In the speech Dr. Edwards 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 (Robert Wasserstrom and Richard
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. Edwards 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. Edwards 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. Edwards 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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