A million California farmworkers face high risk of diabetes, respiratory disease

DAVIS
January 13, 2010 10:57am

California's more than 1 million farmworkers face an increased risk of diabetes, as well as respiratory diseases related to poor air quality, according to articles in the January-March 2010 issue of the University of California's California Agriculture journal released Wednesday.

Scientists affiliated with the University of California Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety review the role of environmental factors such as pesticide exposure on diabetes rates among California farmworkers.

“There is evidence of an association between pesticide exposure and diabetes,” the article says. “In a sample of 1,300 Mexican Americans who participated in the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 1982 to 1984, higher levels of organochlorine compounds, which are found in pesticides, were observed in the blood of adults with self-reported diabetes compared to those without diabetes. However, due to the cross-sectional design of the study, it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship between pesticide exposure and diabetes, or what the nature of that relationship may be.”

The articles also present original research on potential health effects based on the chemical composition of particulates in ambient air inhaled by laboratory animals in the San Joaquin Valley, which has the highest recorded levels of particulate matter in the country.

“In addition to rapid population growth, a widening interface between urban and agricultural communities, and increasing traffic along the I-5 and Hwy. 99 corridors, farming practices in the San Joaquin Valley subject agricultural workers to high concentrations of airborne particulate matter potentially associated with adverse health effects,” the report says.

Many of California's agriculture-related health problems are unique to the state.

"Hired farmworkers provide the majority of the workforce for California's labor-intensive agricultural sector, and they also suffer the greatest health burden," says Center Director Marc Schenker. "California's hired farmworkers face increased risks of morbidity and mortality from respiratory disease, musculoskeletal problems, infectious diseases, stress-related mental health disorders and lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity."

The Center, located at UC Davis, is a multidisciplinary program dedicated to the understanding and prevention of illness and injury in Western agriculture.

If you feel this story was of value to you, please consider a donation to Goodwill Industries of the San Joaquin Valley, our designated nonprofit. Thank you.

To support them, please click here.