Abstract
Expanding agribusiness in Sonora, a state in Northern Mexico, has increased the demand for temporary migrant agricultural workers. Sonora is one of the top states in Mexico for pesticide utilization. We conducted an exploratory study to evaluate exposure to organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid pesticides among migrant farmworkers. A sample of 20 migrant farmworkers was recruited from a large commercial grape farm during the harvest season. We administered a questionnaire on work activities, exposure characteristics, and socio-demographics. We collected urine samples to quantify pesticide metabolite concentrations. Most participants were originally from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, none had completed high school, and about half spoke an indigenous language as well as Spanish. The majority of participants had detectable concentrations of pyrethroid and organophosphate biomarkers. Geometric mean creatinine-adjusted concentrations for 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (1.83 µg/g), trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid (0.88 µg/g), 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (0.94 µg/g), 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (3.56 µg/g), and para-nitrophenol (0.63 µg/g) were significantly higher than in the general United States’ population and Mexican Americans. Our results also suggest that migrant farmworkers in this region are exposed to pesticides at higher levels than other farmworkers’ studies. Farmworkers’ age, language, training on personal protective equipment, time at the farm, and season, were significant exposure determinants.
Highlights
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from the year 2004 to 2014, the use of pesticides in Mexico increased from 1.79 kg/ha to 3.85 kg/ha, an increment of115% [1]
Urinary concentrations for 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (4F3PBA) and t-DCCA in our exploratory study were higher than the results reported by Handal et al [40] in Ecuador, but they were not reported in the other farmworker studies [38,39,41]
The working activities were relatively similar during the summer and spring season, we found that participants who worked during the summer season had higher urinary concentrations of 4F3PBA and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3PBA) than participants who worked during the spring season
Summary
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from the year 2004 to 2014, the use of pesticides in Mexico increased from 1.79 kg/ha to 3.85 kg/ha, an increment of115% [1]. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from the year 2004 to 2014, the use of pesticides in Mexico increased from 1.79 kg/ha to 3.85 kg/ha, an increment of. Use of persistent organochlorine (OCs) pesticides in Mexico and worldwide has gradually been replaced by more degradable pesticides such as organophosphates (OPs) and pyrethroids [4,5]. In Mexico, OPs are among the most commonly used pesticides in urban and rural communities [6,7]. OP pesticides are less persistent than OC pesticides, OPs are toxic and in some cases, even more toxic than OCs [8]. Several OPs have been banned or severely restricted worldwide, but they are still being utilized in many urban and rural communities in Mexico [6]
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