Agricultural Health and Safety. Scope of the Problem

Scope of the Problem. Agriculture originated more than 11 000 years ago and is one of the world’s oldest and largest industries. Currently over half of the world’s population is engaged in agricul­ture, totaling 2.7 billion people in 1994 (Stellman, 1998). Agriculture employment patterns vary in part by the level of a country’s economic development.

In many nations, the largest share of employment is in the services sector, followed by industry, with a small proportion, usually less than 10%, in agriculture. In other nations, predominantly transitional economies, agriculture accounts for the largest proportion of employment, followed by services and then industry (ILO, 2003). For example, in North America 7 million people are engaged in agriculture, whereas in

Asia over 2 billion people are working on farms consisting primarily of family-owned plots. Farming in developed countries has transitioned into large-scale production agriculture involving larger farms often owned by compa­nies rather than individuals. In North America and Eur­ope, the number of family-owned farms is shrinking and the holdings of the remaining farms are increasing.

In developed and developing nations, peasants and subsis­tence farmers working only small plots of land produce four-fifths of developing countries’ food supply, yet these agricultural workers may be among the poorest sectors of society. They may live in isolated rural conditions with substandard housing, inadequate access to clean water and health care, and with little or no educational opportunities or other economic options.

The economic hardships of rural poverty are com­pounded by the health demands intrinsic to agricultural labor. Farming is one of the most hazardous occupations and people working on farms worldwide experience inju­ries and disease associated with both subsistence and production agriculture. Sources of hazards can be broadly grouped into those from trauma, chemical exposure, psy­chosocial stressors, and pulmonary exposures.

Regardless of the scale of operations, agricultural work entails numerous occupational health risks, many of which can be targeted for prevention. For the most part, this article discusses health issues experienced by individuals work­ing in agriculture including farm owners, farm family members, and farmworkers. Risks to children living or working in the farm environment are also discussed.

Agricultural Workers and Their Families. Some of the major health problems, both acute and chronic, among adult farming populations include respi­ratory disorders, cancer, neurologic problems, injuries and traumatic deaths, skin diseases, hearing loss, stress, and problems in reproduction. In countries where mechaniza­tion is a routine part of farming, the leading agents of fatal and nonfatal injuries to farmers and farmworkers are tractors and farm machinery, followed by livestock, build­ing structures, falls, and bodies of water.

Environmental exposures include pesticides, volatile organic compounds (fuel), noxious gases, airborne irritants, noise, vibration, zoonoses, and stress. Farm family members may also be exposed to these hazards, making agriculture a unique example of the intersection of occupational and environ­mental exposures. On the approximately 2.2 million farms in the United States in 1999 for example, there were 1.3 million farmworkers and 4.6 million farm residents.

In 2002 the number employed in the agriculture and fish­ing sectors in the 15 member countries of the European Union (EU15) was over 10 million people. The 2002 rate of nonfatal injuries in the EU15 was 6000 per 100 000 workers, and the leading agents responsible are similar to those in the United States, including machinery, falls, and hazard­ous environmental exposures. In countries where mechani­zation is not routine, the leading agents of fatal and nonfatal injuries to farmers and farmworkers are livestock, pesti­cides, zoonoses, and stress.

Farming is also unique in that child labor is common. Special consideration must be given to the health risks faced by children working in agriculture. The maturing organ systems of children and adolescents may be espe­cially vulnerable to the harmful effects of hazards com­monplace in agriculture such as chemical exposures and physical stressors.

Data on the scope of child farm labor in developing countries are scarce; however, recent estimates suggest 170 million children worldwide are working in agriculture. Globally, child labor has been a part of plan­tation agriculture throughout its history: families working on plantations as contract laborers must rely on all members of the family unit working together to increase productivity and in turn, their compensation.

On family- owned farms in the United States, approximately 27% of farm residents are youths less than 20 years old, and at least 300 000 youths between the ages of 15 and 17 work alongside their parents as farmworkers. Although the exact number of youths exposed to farm hazards annually in the United States is unknown, it has been estimated at more than 2 million.

Women account for over half of the global agricultural workforce; however, they are often overlooked in interna­tional labor statistics. In addition to facing the same hazards as male agricultural workers face, women working in agriculture during their reproductive years may be exposed to toxic chemicals or physical demands that can also cause problems with reproduction and pregnancy maintenance.

There is also concern that all women who are exposed to biologically active chemicals during agri­cultural work may be at risk for hormone disruption across the lifespan, from their prereproductive years through menopause and beyond.