It Ain't Easy Raising a Family on a Farm These Days...

If you were raised in a city or in suburbia, farm life must seem serene, bucolic, and wholesome. Sure, it means hard work, but it's honest and lets you escape to simpler times in human history...

Fields Near Greenfield, CA

In some ways, you'd be right. In most ways...


The Salinas Valley in California is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" with its large production of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and more. This title was not awarded simply by having small subsistence farms. Agriculture in the United States is big business, with heavy machinery, large acres of land, huge water needs, fertilizers, and pesticides. As such, farm life is complicated, scientific, and dangerous.


In 2007, organophosphate (OP) pesticides accounted for 36% of all pesticides used in the United States. This class of pesticides, whose membership includes chlorpyrifos, malathion, and phosmet, is greatly important to agriculture and the Californian economy.


Pesticides in the organophosphate class work by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. The targeted enzyme is important for proper neuron to neuron signalling in insect as well as human nervous systems, which makes it an excellent target for a pesticide.


However, many studies have shown associations with poorer neurobehavioral development in very young children who have been exposed to OP pesticides while in the womb or as an infant. Usually, this exposure to the pesticide is due to dietary consumption by the pregnant mother or infant. A recent study published in August of 2011 sought to examine whether these biological effects were long lasting, and at whether prenatal or postnatal exposure was a larger contributor to the observed neurobehavioral deficiencies.


The study examined data from a cohort of largely Latino pregnant mothers and children living in an agricultural community in the Salinas Valley. Their exposures to OP pesticides are, by and large, very high compared to other populations around the country, but are still within possible levels for the general population. They found, by measuring biological samples, that OP pesticide exposure to a pregnant mother is associated with lower IQ scores in her children even at the age of 7. Those children that had the highest exposure through their mothers had  an average deficit of 7 points! On the other hand, exposure during childhood was not associated with this outcome.


Now what do we do? We've been told to eat well and eat our veggies, especially when someone is pregnant. Are we simply poisoning our children with good intentions? No. Certainly not, agrees Elizabeth Marder, a University of California-trained toxicologist. "It is important to recognize that determining an exposure has occurred does not necessarily mean that a harmful exposure has occurred." But, there are clear indications for actions that can be taken for at risk people.


MINIMIZE EXPOSURE:
1) Pregnant mothers have many things to worry about during their pregnancies. If a pregnant mother is associated with or lives in a farming community, she should also be vigilant about possible ways to be exposed to these pesticides and avoiding them. For example, staying indoors on a crop dusting day, and making sure that any relatives that visit who work on the farm change into clean clothes before entering your home.


2) Always eat well--whether you're pregnant or not! This also means making sure any ingredients that are being used in a meal are cleaned thoroughly before being transformed into a healthy salad, casserole, or curry. Avoiding nutritionally healthy products based on a possible exposure is NOT the solution!


WAYS TO ACHIEVE:
1) For the population of women involved in this presented study, starting strong educational programs for avoiding or minimizing pesticide exposure while pregnant may be helpful. After all, knowledge is power. In this case, it's the power to know what other precautions a new mother can take as early as possible in pregnancy. Community outreach programs targeting agricultural populations in the languages they speak would seem to be the way to go.


2) A broader campaign may include television or radio ads encouraging the proper cleaning of fruits and vegetables before consumption. Reminders of good practices in common media can improve the chance the general population is maximally reducing their exposure to pesticides through their diets in ways they can afford.


DONE AND DUSTED (Wait, wait, not really):

Unfortunately, any opportunity to advocate good practices runs the risk of unintentionally alienating a population. The ability for persons to avoid exposures is also limited by their economic abilities. Migrant workers, for example, are a vital source of labor in California's agriculture infrastructure. They do not necessarily have the means to "avoid" pesticide exposures if a family depends upon the income generated by a working person. In this scenario, even a pregnant woman may insist on working in the fields during her pregnancy. Also, don't even bother thinking that she could use her maternity leave.


It is, indeed, difficult to raise a family, let alone raising one in an area where certain vulnerabilities are compounded by our environments. However, steps can be made to reduce our exposures to OP pesticides while still providing ourselves with food and an economy.


Citations:
Bouchard, MF, Chevrier, J, et al. Prenatal Exposure to Organophosphate Pesticides and IQ in 7-Year-Old Children. Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 119, No 8, Aug 2011. 
Photos sourced through the Creative Commons Licenses.


Chandresh Ladva filled his lungs with pesticides and oil refinery fumes for 18 years while living in the San Joaquin Valley before he moved eastward to study philosophy and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale, respectively. He longs to return to California someday, but not before finding solutions to problems associated with development and environmental toxins. He is currently a pre-doctoral candidate in environmental health sciences at Emory University.


chandresh.ladva@emory.edu