Arcury Thomas A, Quandt Sara A, Barr Dana B, Hoppin Jane A, McCauley Linda, Grzywacz Joseph G, Robson Mark G
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157-1084, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Jun;114(6):923-8. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8531.
The exposure of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families to agricultural and residential pesticides is a continuing public health concern. Pesticide exposure research has been spurred on by the development of sensitive and reliable laboratory techniques that allow the detection of minute amounts of pesticides or pesticide metabolites. The power of research on farmworker pesticide exposure has been limited because of variability in the collection of exposure data, the predictors of exposure considered, the laboratory procedures used in analyzing the exposure, and the measurement of exposure. The Farmworker Pesticide Exposure Comparable Data Conference assembled 25 scientists from diverse disciplinary and organizational backgrounds to develop methodologic consensus in four areas of farmworker pesticide exposure research: environmental exposure assessment, biomarkers, personal and occupational predictors of exposure, and health outcomes of exposure. In this introduction to this mini-monograph, first, we present the rationale for the conference and its organization. Second, we discuss some of the important challenges in conducting farmworker pesticide research, including the definition and size of the farmworker population, problems in communication and access, and the organization of agricultural work. Third, we summarize major findings from each of the conference's four foci-environmental exposure assessment, biomonitoring, predictors of exposure, and health outcomes of exposure-as well as important laboratory and statistical analysis issues that cross-cut the four foci.
移民和季节性农场工人及其家庭接触农业和住宅用农药的问题一直是公共卫生领域持续关注的焦点。灵敏可靠的实验室技术的发展推动了农药接触研究，这些技术能够检测出微量的农药或农药代谢物。由于接触数据收集的变异性、所考虑的接触预测因素、分析接触情况时使用的实验室程序以及接触测量方法等原因，农场工人农药接触研究的力度受到了限制。农场工人农药接触可比数据会议召集了25位来自不同学科和组织背景的科学家，旨在在农场工人农药接触研究的四个领域达成方法学共识：环境接触评估、生物标志物、接触的个人和职业预测因素以及接触的健康后果。在这本专题论文集的引言部分，首先，我们阐述会议的基本原理及其组织情况。其次，我们讨论开展农场工人农药研究时面临的一些重要挑战，包括农场工人人口的定义和规模、沟通与接触方面的问题以及农业工作的组织形式。第三，我们总结会议四个重点领域（环境接触评估、生物监测、接触预测因素和接触的健康后果）的主要研究结果，以及贯穿这四个重点领域的重要实验室和统计分析问题。
