Background
Pesticides are used to eliminate or control unwanted or harmful insects, plants, fungi, animals, or microorganisms. Currently approximately 600 approved, active pesticide ingredients are used in almost 20,000 products. Each year, approximately two billion pounds of licensed pesticides are used in the United States, an amount that is roughly one-fifth of total global pesticide use.
Human exposure to pesticides occurs primarily through dietary residues, outdoor pesticide exposure (gardening and lawn applications), indoor pesticide exposure (including tracking in outdoor pesticides), occupational exposures (pest control applicators and farm workers), and the use of pesticides on domestic animals, including pets. Exposure to pesticides that results from natural disasters or terrorism also poses a threat to public health.
When used properly, pesticides offer many benefits, including preventing illness and death by controlling the insect vectors of diseases such as malaria, and West Nile virus. However, in 2001, the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS), which tracks cases of poisoning reported to U.S. poison control centers, identified 20,110 cases of acute pesticide poisonings in the general population. The EPA estimates that 10,000-20,000 physician-diagnosed pesticide poisonings occur each year among approximately 3,380,000 U.S. agricultural workers. Short-term exposure to high levels of pesticides may cause respiratory, gastrointestinal, allergic, or neurologic symptoms. Long-term exposure may be associated with neurologic diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers.
CDC Activities
Several programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conduct activities related to pesticides and health. The following are activities of the Environmental Hazards and Health Effects Program (EHHE) in CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health:
- Conducts activities related to preparing for and responding to
chemical emergencies, including those involving pesticides:
- Supports surveillance of chemical exposures through TESS and
conversion of TESS into a real-time system for tracking poisoning
- Provides training for various audiences, such as physicians and
public health officials, as well as educational materials to help
identify, respond to, and prevent chemical exposures
- Supports surveillance of chemical exposures through TESS and
conversion of TESS into a real-time system for tracking poisoning
- Provides consultation and conducts research regarding the safety of
public health pesticides, including the following activities:
- Provides EPA, as specified by the Food Quality Protection Act,
with information on the benefits and use of public health pesticides
and has collaborated with EPA to develop a comprehensive list of
public health pests, protocols for evaluating specific pesticide
effectiveness, and factors to be used in risk/benefit decisions
- Assesses the exposure to pesticides of at-risk populations. For
example, the program has:
- Conducted a study in Mississippi to determine whether
mosquito-control spraying during the West Nile epidemic increased
the amount of pesticides to which people were being exposed. The
study compared pesticide levels (measured in urine) among people
living in areas that sprayed for mosquitoes with levels among people
living in areas that did not spray for mosquitoes. The study group
exposed to mosquito-control pesticides had the same level of
pesticides as the study group not exposed to mosquito-control
pesticides, indicating that mosquito-control spraying did not
significantly increase human exposure to pesticides.
- Conducted an exposure assessment of reproductive-age women who
worked on or lived near agricultural fields in the California-Baja
border region. The study measured pesticide metabolite levels in the
urine of 100 women in Imperial Valley, California, a community where
use of organophosphates and carbamates has been documented. Results
showed that women in this area are exposed to pesticides but to the
same types and levels of pesticides as the general U.S. population.
Levels found were lower than levels known to cause health problems.
- Conducted a study to assess pesticide exposure in children in
Yuma County, Arizona. The study was performed to determine whether
children who lived or attended school close to agricultural fields
had higher levels of pesticides in their urine than did children who
lived or attended school farther away. Distance from household or
school to agricultural fields was not associated with exposure to
pesticides. The data in this study suggest that the levels of
pesticide metabolites measured in urine were more closely related to
household exposures than to distance the child lived or attended
school from an agricultural field.
- Conducted a study in Mississippi to determine whether
mosquito-control spraying during the West Nile epidemic increased
the amount of pesticides to which people were being exposed. The
study compared pesticide levels (measured in urine) among people
living in areas that sprayed for mosquitoes with levels among people
living in areas that did not spray for mosquitoes. The study group
exposed to mosquito-control pesticides had the same level of
pesticides as the study group not exposed to mosquito-control
pesticides, indicating that mosquito-control spraying did not
significantly increase human exposure to pesticides.
- Provides EPA, as specified by the Food Quality Protection Act,
with information on the benefits and use of public health pesticides
and has collaborated with EPA to develop a comprehensive list of
public health pests, protocols for evaluating specific pesticide
effectiveness, and factors to be used in risk/benefit decisions
- Supports states and cities, through the National Environmental
Public Health Tracking Program, in conducting projects that demonstrate
and evaluate methods for linking environmental data and health data on
pesticides. These activities are intended to improve existing
surveillance and monitoring systems and aid in early identification,
intervention, and prevention of harmful pesticide exposures. The
following are examples of funded projects:
- Washington state—developing electronic systems to improve
completeness and timeliness of case reporting for pesticide exposure
and illness
- California—linking data on birth outcomes, infant mortality,
autism spectrum disorders, and mental retardations with data from the
California Pesticide Use Reports
- Massachusetts—linking data on childhood cancer incidence from the
state cancer registry with information from databases on drinking
water quality and pesticide use
- Wisconsin—conducting a pilot project of indicators for pesticide
poisonings and linking data from the Childhood Cancer Follow-back
Program with data on residential and regional pesticide usage
- New York City—linking information on pesticide poisonings with environmental data for pesticides
- Washington state—developing electronic systems to improve
completeness and timeliness of case reporting for pesticide exposure
and illness
For information on other CDC activities related to pesticides, visit the following program websites:
- National Center for Infectious Diseases:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm
- NCEH/Division of Laboratory Sciences:
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/dls/
- National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/pesticides/
- CDC Health Topic: Pesticides:
http://www.cdc.gov/health/pesticides.htm
For more information on EHHE’s pesticide activities, please contact:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Environmental Health, MS F52
4700 Buford Hwy, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717
Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO
E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov
Website:
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/pesticides/
