Rao Pamela, Arcury Thomas A, Quandt Sara A, Doran Alicia
Department of Family and Community Medicine; Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157.
Department of Public Health Sciences; Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157.
Hum Organ. 2004 Summer;63(2):151-161. doi: 10.17730/humo.63.2.qdyhan8n1ngkf2rk.
Pesticide exposure poses a significant health hazard to everyone who works in agriculture. Growers have more control over their own exposure risk than do the farmworkers they employ. While growers are responsible for providing a safe work environment, their perceptions of the health risk of pesticides influence the amount and quality of safety training and protection they offer to workers. This paper analyzes growers' and cooperative extension agents' perceptions of farmworker pesticide exposure. Data are from in-depth interviews conducted with growers and extension agents who work in western North Carolina. Both groups indicated that the danger of pesticide exposure is exaggerated by the media and the public. They feel that workers are at little risk of exposure because they have received training and protective equipment as required by law and because they are not in direct contact with chemicals. Their perceptions are at odds with results of other research indicating many farmworkers have not received the required training and do not always utilize protective gear. Linguistic and cultural barriers contribute to this discrepancy in perceptions and must be addressed if measures to reduce farmworker pesticide exposure are to be effective.
接触农药对每一位从事农业工作的人都构成重大的健康危害。种植者比他们雇佣的农场工人对自身的接触风险有更多的控制。虽然种植者有责任提供一个安全的工作环境，但他们对农药健康风险的认知会影响他们为工人提供的安全培训和保护的数量与质量。本文分析了种植者和合作推广人员对农场工人接触农药的认知。数据来自对北卡罗来纳州西部的种植者和推广人员进行的深入访谈。两组人员均表示，媒体和公众夸大了农药接触的危险性。他们认为工人接触农药的风险很小，因为他们已按法律要求接受了培训并配备了防护设备，而且他们并非直接接触化学品。他们的认知与其他研究结果不一致，其他研究表明许多农场工人并未接受所需培训，也并非总是使用防护装备。语言和文化障碍导致了这种认知差异，如果要有效采取减少农场工人接触农药的措施，就必须解决这些障碍。
