Jack Griffith

Survey of health and use characterization of pesticide appliers in Minnesota.

We surveyed 1,000 randomly selected state-licensed pesticide appliers to improve our understanding of pesticide use and its potential health effects. Participants were stratified by pesticide class (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, fumigants) to determine potential differences in health characteristics among different pesticide groups. A subset of 60 applicators, divided by pesticide class used, were studied for exposure-related cholinesterase (ChE) depression. ChE depression in excess of 20% was most frequent in fumigant applicators who did enclosed-space application, in addition to other pesticide application procedures (p < .05). Survey data demonstrated that the prevalence of all common chronic diseases considered together was significantly increased (p = .015) in fumigant appliers, compared with all other pesticide use groups. The frequency of chronic lung disease was also significantly increased in the fumigant applier group (p = .027). Curiously, two cases of a rare hematopoietic neoplasm--hairy cell leukemia--were identified in our study group (annual incidence 0.67/100,000 in Minnesota). Whether there is an association between this unique tumor and agricultural work is uncertain, and further study is needed in this regard.

Pesticide poisonings reported by Florida citrus fieldworkers

In a 1981 survey of 1811 Florida citrus fieldworkers, 25 pesticide related poisoning incidents involving 29 fieldworkers were reported. Suspected poisonings were categorized into possible and confirmed poisonings, and from these reports it was possible to project an estimated 438 possible poisonings, and 73 confirmed poisonings among all citrus fieldworkers. Confirmed pesticide poisonings were developed into an incidence rate of 34 poisonings per 10,000 permanent and semi-permanent fieldworkers. The number of possible and confirmed poisonings, for all fieldworkers, was then developed into an incidence rate of 160 poisonings per 10,000 fieldworkers.

The effect of chronic environmental noise on the rate of hypertension : a meta-analysis

Abstract Critical reviews of noise on human human health, performed during the past 15 y have raised questions regarding the potential for noise to result in adverse health impacts. Previous syntheses have been based on critiques of methods used in individual works but have not attempted to provide quantitative evaluations of the collected works. Work described in this paper presents a synthesis of carefully selected investigations from the available literature, including a meta-analysis on selected data, in order to provide some insight into the possibility that chronic ambient noise is related to hypertension as a function of increasing noise levels. Given the large number of persons exposed to environmental noise sources, the strength of association between hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and the derived odds ratios for noise induced hypertension in this paper, noise may be one of the most important environmental factors presently being neglected within the regulatory arena.