Children and Pesticides: Approaches to Reducing Health Risks through Intervention, Source Management

1
Children and Pesticides Approaches to Reducing
Health Risks through Intervention, Source
Management, and Community Partnerships Kacee
Deener, Chris Saint, Nigel Fields (Presented by
Vivian Turner) U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Research and Development,
National Center for Environmental Research
Methods/Approach
Results/Conclusions
Science Question
Integrated Pest Management A Less Toxic and
More Effective Solution (Brenner et al., 2003)
Take-Home Pesticide Exposure Contributes to
Residential Pesticide Contamination in
Agricultural Homes (Curl et al., 2002)

• Through the EPAs STAR extramural research
  program, the Childrens Centers have
• Confirmed that a major exposure pathway for
  children in an agricultural setting can be
  attributed to a farmworker parent taking home
  pesticide residues.
• Implemented interventions that are designed to
  break the take-home pathway (removing work
  boots before entering the home, change out of
  work clothes before entering the home, etc.).
• Discovered that many farmworkers, because of
  cultural beliefs that cold water causes
  arthritis, do not wash their hands in the field
  where only cold water is provided for hand
  washing.
• Demonstrated that IPM is more effective at
  reducing cockroach populations than traditional
  pest control practices.

How can differential risk be mitigated?
Research Goals

• EPA has made it a priority to conduct and fund
  high quality childrens environmental health
  research. Within EPA, the National Center for
  Environmental Research (NCER) offers an
  extramural grants program entitled Science to
  Achieve Results (STAR). STAR, in cooperation
  with NIEHS, has funded several childrens
  environmental health centers that are conducting
  basic and applied research into the causes and
  mechanisms of childrens environmentally induced
  diseases. One unique component of this research
  is the inclusion of community-based intervention
  projects designed to mitigate risk by reducing
  hazardous exposures and their potential health
  effects. Through this effort, EPA has developed
  a portfolio of research that examines ways to
  reduce health risks from exposure to pesticides
  through source management, intervention, and
  community partnerships.
• Components of Intervention Research
• Identification of relevant exposure pathways
• Tailoring of intervention methods to specific
  situations.
• In-home intervention programs (both urban and
  rural)
• Community level intervention programs
• Partnerships with community organizations
• Examples of In-home Interventions
• Development of home-based educational strategies
  
• Implementation of integrated pest management
  (IPM), which incorporates professional house
  cleaning, sealing of cracks and crevices to
  reduce cockroach populations, and encouraging the
  use of lower toxicity pesticides in the home
• Examples of Community Level Interventions
• Health fairs
• Family parties
• Educational programs
• Community Partnerships
• Multi-lingual community health organizations
• State-funded health programs
• Agricultural associations

Impact and Outcomes

• The Central Coast Grower Shipper Association has
  agreed to provide warm hand washing water and
  protective clothing based on research findings,
  an action that is expected to dramatically reduce
  take home pesticide exposures, and ultimately
  reduce childrens exposure to these pesticides.
• The childrens center at the University of
  Berkeley has developed a prenatal environmental
  health education program for pregnant women
  enrolled in the California Comprehensive
  Perinatal Services Program (a state-funded
  service that provides prenatal care to 150,000
  low-income women in California each year).
• The Columbia University childrens center is
  working with the New York City Department of
  Health and Mental Hygiene and the New York City
  Housing Authority to determine if IPM is an
  effective alternative to aerosol pesticides in
  public housing. This partnership has created the
  potential for broader implementation of IPM in
  public housing that would reduce childrens
  exposure to pesticides.

• Pesticides are applied in large quantities in
  urban communities to control cockroaches, however
  many pesticides pose potential threats to health
• The threat is higher for children, who have
  proportionately greater exposures and unique
  developmentally determined vulnerabilities
• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) relies on
  non-chemical tools, such as cleaning of food
  residues, removal of potential nutrients, and
  sealing cracks and crevices. Least toxic
  pesticides are used sparingly
• The childrens center at Mount Sinai in New York
  City evaluated IPMs effectiveness through a
  prospective intervention trial
• Household cockroach infestation was measured by
  glue traps at baseline and 6 months after
  intervention
• Intervention group received individually
  tailored IPM education, repairs, least-toxic
  pesticide application, and supplies
• Control group was demographically and
  socioeconomically similar to intervention
  households. They received an injury prevention
  intervention.
• The proportion of intervention households with
  cockroaches declines significantly after 6 months
  (80.5 to 39.0)
• Control groups were essentially unchanged (78.1
  to 81.3)
• Costs for IPM were equal to or less than
  traditional chemical based pest control
• Results show that individually tailored IPM can
  be successful and cost-effective in an urban
  community

• Researchers analyzed organophosphate pesticide
  exposure in farm worker households (n218) in
  agricultural communities in Washington State to
  investigate the take-home pathway of pesticide
  exposure
• House dust samples, vehicle dust samples and
  urine samples (from parent and child) were
  collected
• Azinphosmethyl was detected in higher
  concentrations (plt0.0001) than other pesticides
• Geometric mean concentrations of azinphosmethyl
  were 0.53 µg/g in house dust and 0.75 µg/g in
  vehicle dust
• Azinphosmethyl concentrations in house dust and
  vehicle dust from the same household were
  significantly associated (r2 0.41, p lt 0.0001).
  
• Dimethyl dialkylphosphate levels in child and
  adult urine from the same household were also
  significantly associated (r2 0.18, p lt 0.0001)
• Results of this work support the hypothesis that
  the take-home exposure pathway contributes to
  residential pesticide contamination in
  agricultural homes where young children are
  present

Future Directions
The EPA-funded childrens environmental health
research centers are ongoing. Future efforts
will continue to make important strides in the
fields of environmental epidemiology and
childrens environmental health. Research
efforts will continue to incorporate in-home and
community level intervention programs in an
effort to reduce exposures and their potential
health effects.
References

• Brenner, B.L., et al. Integrated Pest Management
  in an Urban Community A Successful Partnership
  for Prevention. Environmental Health
  Perspectives 111(13) 1649-1653 (2003).
• Curl, C.L., et al. Evaluation of Take-Home
  Organophosphorus Pesticide Exposure among
  Agricultural Workers and Their Children.
  Environmental Health Perspectives 110(12)
  787-792 (2002).