Diseases, occupational pesticides

Hermanowitz, A., Kossman, S. (1984). Neutrophil function and infectious disease occupationally exposed to phosphoorganic pesticides role of mononuclear-derived chemotactic factor for neutrophils. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 33 13. 

Environmental factors have been identified as contributing to the development of NHL. Certain occupations such as wood and forestry workers, butchers, exterminators, grain millers, machinists, mechanics, painters, printers, and industrial workers have a higher prevalence of disease. Industrial chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, organic chemicals (e.g., benzene), solvents, and wood preservatives are also associated with NHL. 

In a survey of occupationally acquired disease in workers at a pesticide plant, 11 % of 102 workers were hospitalized from exposure to metbomyl and 3,4-dichloroaniline. On clinical evaluation, 5 (46%) of 11 packaging workers, the group with the highest exposure... 

The AHS, a collaborative research effort between the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and EPA, is a prospective occupational study of 89,658 pesticide appliers and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina assembled between 1993 and 1997 to evaluate risk factors for disease in rural farm populations (Blair et al. 2005). It is being conducted in three phases—phase I (1993-1997), phase II (1999-2003), and phase III (2005)—and includes only limited biomonitoring. Data are gathered with questionnaires to determine pesticide use and exposures, work practices, and other relevant exposures from buccal cell collection with dietary surveys and with interviews to determine updated pesticide exposures (Agricultural Health Study 2005). 

An avenue for both occupational and enviromnental exposure assessment which has only rarely been used in case-control studies is direct exposure measurements of the study subjects. For pesticides with long biological half-lives, and whose concentrations are unlikely to be affected by the disease, biological measures of exposure can be made. For example, Caldwell etal. (1981) and Scheele etal. (1992, 1996) measured pesticide levels in bone marrow and serum in adult and childhood cancer cases and controls. 

Mick, D.L. 1974. Collaborative study of neiirobehavioral and neurophysiological parameters in relation to occupational exposure to organophosphate pesticides. In Behavioral Toxicology Early Detection of Occupational Hazards. C. Xintaras, B.L. Johnson and I. de Groot, eds. Center for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, DC. pp. 152-153. 

Based on chronological data, it is clear that no pesticides, fertilizers or chemicals introduced during the last few decades may be blamed for the occurrence of Balkan nephropathy. Except for exposure to agricultural activities, no occupation, habit (e.g., smoking, alcohol consumption), or hobby (e.g., hunting, fishing) might have been shown to precede the disease onset. 

It is estimated that there are 3.8 million cases of occupational diseases due to exposure to chemicals in the world each year. Of these, acute pesticide poisoning accounts for about 3 million cases. About 220,ci00 of these are fatal. Over 90 % of exposure incidents and about 99% of deaths take place in the third world countries [13]. German Development expert reports on the careless use of pesticides, in Sri Lanka — there they spread DDT with bare hands, people are powdered white , On the Antilles island of Trinidad a total... 

Much of the available information on immunotoxic evaluation of anticholinesterases involves pesticides. However, exposure to low levels of pesticides does not appear to adversely affect the immune system. The effects observed arc not always dose related and only rarely occur at exposures not producing systemic toxicity. Allergic responses and various degrees of autoimmune diseases have been reported in workers occupationally exposed to pesticides however, this effect may be mediated by alteration of proteins rather than inhibition of cholinesterases. Modulation of immune responses, particularly the interference with host defense mechanisms, has been experimentally induced fora variety of anticholinesterase pesticides. 

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