The Environmental and Social Injustice of Farmworker Pesticide Exposure

Farmworkers in the United States are recognized as an environmental justice community. The farmworker population is low-income and primarily Hispanic, and is at a disproportionate risk from exposure to an environmental contaminant pesticides. Farmworkers face distributional, procedural, corrective, and social challenges with this exposure, as is common with other environmental justice communities. Social challenges include socioeconomic and political inequities that are grounded in the historical domination of the agricultural industry over its labor force. The production and use of pesticides is a function of the economic priorities of industry. Employers profit from pesticide use and are able to maximize their profits through less regulation. They are able to circumvent dissent about pesticide use by exerting social control over the group that they put at risk---farmworkers. The premise of this Article is that social, economic, and political factors interact in a way that ensures that farmworkers continue to lack participation in decision-making in pesticide regulation, that disproportionate health impacts are perpetuated, and that changing the status quo is difficult. Farmworkers have had little success in addressing harmful occupational pesticide exposure using methods that some environmental justice communities have employed, i.e., lobbying for effective regulation, engaging in public demonstration, or pursuing traditional litigation. In order to find appropriately tailored remedies for this particular environmental injustice, it is important to recognize that disproportionate pesticide exposure has less to do with a particular framework of regulation and more to do with underlying social and economic forces

Pesticide Policy and Farmworker Health

Although data on the carcinogenicity of agricultural pesticides are still being generated and are thus incomplete, research such as the Agricultural Health Study indicates that populations with increased, regular exposure to pesticides have high rates of a variety of cancers (National Institutes of Health & Environmental Protection Agency 2008). Policies that regulate toxins such as pesticides are envisioned by the public to be empirical and objective, but toxins are socially produced and their regulation is just as often based on political and economic factors as it is on science (Luke 2000). This does not bode well for farm- workers who are simultaneously burdened by disproportionate exposure to pesticides, low socioeconomic status, and political disenfranchisement—factors that can prohibit them from accomplishing change. The social, political, and economic barriers that farmworkers have historically faced are so deeply intertwined and embedded that the community remains unable to address the environmental injustice of adverse occupational exposure through current pesticide policy

The Environmental and Social Injustice of Farmworker Pesticide Exposure

Farmworkers in the United States are recognized as an environmental justice community. The farmworker population is low-income and primarily Hispanic, and is at a disproportionate risk from exposure to an environmental contaminant pesticides. Farmworkers face distributional, procedural, corrective, and social challenges with this exposure, as is common with other environmental justice communities. Social challenges include socioeconomic and political inequities that are grounded in the historical domination of the agricultural industry over its labor force. The production and use of pesticides is a function of the economic priorities of industry. Employers profit from pesticide use and are able to maximize their profits through less regulation. They are able to circumvent dissent about pesticide use by exerting social control over the group that they put at risk---farmworkers. The premise of this Article is that social, economic, and political factors interact in a way that ensures that farmworkers continue to lack participation in decision-making in pesticide regulation, that disproportionate health impacts are perpetuated, and that changing the status quo is difficult. Farmworkers have had little success in addressing harmful occupational pesticide exposure using methods that some environmental justice communities have employed, i.e., lobbying for effective regulation, engaging in public demonstration, or pursuing traditional litigation. In order to find appropriately tailored remedies for this particular environmental injustice, it is important to recognize that disproportionate pesticide exposure has less to do with a particular framework of regulation and more to do with underlying social and economic forces

Pesticide Policy and Farmworker Health

Although data on the carcinogenicity of agricultural pesticides are still being generated and are thus incomplete, research such as the Agricultural Health Study indicates that populations with increased, regular exposure to pesticides have high rates of a variety of cancers (National Institutes of Health & Environmental Protection Agency 2008). Policies that regulate toxins such as pesticides are envisioned by the public to be empirical and objective, but toxins are socially produced and their regulation is just as often based on political and economic factors as it is on science (Luke 2000). This does not bode well for farm- workers who are simultaneously burdened by disproportionate exposure to pesticides, low socioeconomic status, and political disenfranchisement—factors that can prohibit them from accomplishing change. The social, political, and economic barriers that farmworkers have historically faced are so deeply intertwined and embedded that the community remains unable to address the environmental injustice of adverse occupational exposure through current pesticide policy

The Case for Trauma-Informed, Gender-Specific Prevention/Early Intervention Programming in Reducing Female Juvenile Delinquency in Florida

This article describes the statutory recognition of the need for prevention/early intervention juvenile services in Florida that are both trauma-informed and gender-specific. It examines how childhood trauma can impact at-risk children and the gendered aspects of such trauma. The article then describes the PACE Center for Girls, a Florida-based school, currently undergoing a comprehensive evaluation, which attempts to incorporate elements that fulfill statutory recommendations into its programming

Implementing a community-based social marketing project to improve agricultural worker health.

The Together for Agricultural Safety project is a community-based social marketing project working to reduce the adverse health effects of pesticide exposure among fernery and nursery workers in Florida. In 3 years, the collaboration between university and community researchers has embodied many of the principles of community-based research while completing multiple stages of formative data collection required for a social marketing project. This hybrid approach to developing a health intervention for a minority community has been successful in its early stages because the community partners are organized, empowered, and motivated to execute research activities with the assistance of academic partners. However, this work has also been labor intensive and costly. This article describes the lessons learned by project partners and considers the limitations of this approach for agricultural health research

Occupational Risks and Pregnancy and Infant Health Outcomes in Florida Farmworkers

The agricultural industry has some of the highest incidence rates and numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States. Injuries and illnesses in agriculture result from accidents, falls, excessive heat, repetitive motion and adverse pesticide exposure. Women working in agriculture are exposed to the same hazards and risks as their male counterparts, but can face additional adverse impacts on their reproductive health. Yet, few occupational risk assessment studies have considered the reproductive health of female farmworkers. The objective of this community-based participatory research study was to conduct a retrospective, cross-sectional survey to collect information on workplace conditions and behaviors and maternal, pregnancy and infant health outcomes among a sample of female nursery and fernery farmworkers in Central Florida. Survey results showed that nursery workers were more likely to report health symptoms during their pregnancy than fernery workers. We also observed a self-reported increased risk of respiratory illness in the first year of life for infants whose mothers worked in ferneries. Our findings confirm that agricultural work presents potential reproductive hazards for women of childbearing age

Public Health Nursing Case Management for Women Receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: A Randomized Controlled Trial Using Community-Based Participatory Research

Objectives. We evaluated the effectiveness of a community-based participatory research–grounded intervention among women receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with chronic health conditions in increasing (1) health care visits, (2) Medicaid knowledge and skills, and (3) health and functional status. Methods. We used a randomized controlled trial design to assign 432 women to a public health nurse case management plus Medicaid intervention or a wait control group. We assessed Medicaid outcomes pre- and posttraining; other outcomes were assessed at 3, 6, and 9 months. Results. Medicaid knowledge and skills improved (P<.001 for both). Intervention group participants were more likely to have a new mental health visit (odds ratio [OR]=1.92; P=.007), and this likelihood increased in higher-risk subgroups (OR=2.03 and 2.83; P=.04 and .006, respectively). Depression and functional status improved in the intervention group over time (P=.016 for both). No differences were found in routine or preventive care, or general health. Conclusions. Health outcomes among women receiving TANF can be improved with public health interventions. Additional strategies are needed to further reduce health disparities in this population