Exposing Children to Pesticides

Young children may be exposed to pesticides due to unsanitary oral behaviors they enjoy as they explore their environment and through their skin contact with floors and other surfaces. Any child who lives near an agricultural community is theoretically at risk for pesticide exposure because the pesticides can be tracked into their homes or enter as a result of pesticide drift. Children may also be exposed to pesticides due to ground- and surface-water contamination. When pesticides find their way indoors, they may pose a serious problem. Because of carpets and lack of sunlight indoors, there is a lack of environmental factors that enhance pesticide degradation when it is limited to the outdoors. Compared to an adult, a child’s metabolic rate and intake of pesticides are cases for greater harm potential.

This study set out to determine if a relationship existed between pesticide levels in children’s homes and the homes’ proximity to an agricultural field.  In an agricultural community in south Texas, a door-to-door census was conducted to identify eligible households. In the summer phase, 25 houses were investigated; In winter, another 40 houses were investigated; 36 houses in spring and 35 houses in Fall. Organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides were studied from samples of floor dust, children’s hand rinses, and extraction of house dust filters.

Results were: Organophosphates were detected at higher concentrations than organochlorine pesticides. There was no relationship between household proximity to the field and the concentrations of household pesticides. Indoor and lawn use of pesticides and pesticide drift probably account for these levels of household pesticides.
(Carrillo-Zuniga, et al. J Children’s Health 2004; 2:229-39.)

Comment. For school nurses in rural/farming communities, pesticide exposure may be an interesting health education topic for your students and parents. Acute symptoms of poisoning from pesticides include headache, blurred vision, excessive tearing, dizziness, elevated blood pressure, tightness in chest, vomiting, cramps diarrhea, reddening of skin, and blisters. Effects of chronic exposure may include future reproductive problems, tumors, blood disorders, nerve disorders, and endocrine problems. —H.T.