In 2008 in Michigan, there were 123 pesticide-related injuries and illnesses in the workplace.
In 2008, a Michigan postal worker went to the emergency room for trouble breathing after a custodian sprayed ants with an insecticide near her feet. She lost three weeks of work.
That same year, a department store employee was stocking shelves when an insect fogger was knocked over and activated. She too was sent to the emergency room for shortness of breath.
Events like these are not unique.
There were 123 similar, pesticide-related workplace injuries in 2008 reported recently by the Michigan Department of Community Health.
“Pesticide Illness and Injury Surveillance in Michigan,” measures the number of people hurt by pesticide exposure in the workplace.
It analyzes cases reported to Michigan Poison Control Centers, Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
Not just for the professionals
“Pesticides, when compared to lots of other chemicals, are some of the most regulated chemicals we use in our society,” said Dr. Kenneth Rosenman, one of the report’s contributors. “But there is more exposure to them, and more exposure to potentially dangerous substances mean more adverse health effects.”
The report defines pesticides as any chemical used to kill or control insects, weeds, fungi, rodents and germs. There are more than 600 such chemicals in 16,000 products in the United States.
Most people don’t think of cleaners such as bleach or insect sprays used in the home or workplace as pesticides, said Abby Schwartz, report author and public health consultant at the Michigan Department of Community Health.
But 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the U.S. every year, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
“ A pesticide is defined as anything that inhibits, can kill, or control something that is unwanted,” Schwartz said. “These chemicals are designed to kill, and so even though you might be able to buy it off the shelf, they should be treated with respect, carefully, and only when needed as opposed to routinely.”
This is the sixth annual publication of the Michigan report. From 2001 through 2008, there have been 615 confirmed cases of pesticide injury or illness in the state.
The annual number of cases fluctuates. But there was an increase of 38 confirmed cases between 2007 and 2008, making it the year with the greatest number of cases.
“It is more of a disappointment than a surprise,” Rosenman said.
A fear of germs
An increased use of disinfectants is the reason for the growth, he said.
Germ and bacteria killing substances were the largest problems in 2008. Approximately 68 percent of the illness and injuries y were attributed to them.
More than 5,000 such antimicrobials are sold in the U.S., according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
“There is increased commercial marketing and people are concerned about various infectious diseases,” Rosenman said. “People need to think of disinfectant as the hazards they are and not use them when they are not needed.”
Two examples:
- Case 01276 – A day care worker was diagnosed with first-degree burns on her hands after using a disinfectant.
- Case 01249 – A systems analyst became dizzy and nauseous after she used her phone which had been cleaned with Clorox Wipes. It hadn’t been dried and she inhal the disinfectant.
Inhalation was the most common contact with pesticides, according to the report. Sixty-nine people injured this way in 2008. Skin and eye exposures and ingestion were other common routes of exposure.
Getting rid of the pests
Insecticides were the second largest cause of harm from pesticides. Nineteen people became ill after incidents involving sprays and other chemicals used to kill insects.
Among them:
- Case 01353 – A teenage restaurant employee developed a cough, chest pain and nausea after spraying a bathroom wall with an insecticide to treat fruit flies.
- Case 01414 – A hair salon employee was injured after a coworker had sprayed her chair with an insecticide for lice. Without knowing, she touched the chair and her face, and developed a blister on her lip.
“Here’s another example of where a better understanding that these chemicals may be dangerous to people as well as the intended target would really help,” Schwartz said.
“Then the coworker would be more likely to inform her that she’d sprayed the chair.”
Who has been affected?
None of the names of the victims were released. Most were between the ages of 20 and 29. The youngest was 16, the oldest was 65. Slightly more – 52.2 percent — were male.
In the cases where race was reported, 55 cases or nearly 89 percent were Caucasian.
Occupations also varied. In the 108 cases where profession was reported, food services had the largest number – 17 – of people affected.
Other industries reflected in the report include engineering, nursing, hospitality, construction, teaching, retail, trucking, and agriculture.
Where cases might be most common, is where cases are not reported
Farming, a business traditionally associated with pesticide use, usually accounts for a relatively low number of cases in Michigan’s reports, according to Schwartz.
Eleven of the cases in were in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries.
But the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 pesticide poisonings occur each year, within the 2 million U.S. agricultural workers.
“We generally don’t have a lot of agricultural cases reported, but that is due to them not being reported,” Schwartz said. “There are a lot of reasons, some cultural, some access.”
Schwartz has initiated education and outreach projects with farm and migrant health clinics in attempts to increase both the workers and clinics’ participation in reporting pesticide related illnesses.
“There is always a fear among workers that if you tell your boss you have had an exposure, you might be at risk for loosing your job or transferring to a less paying job,” said Susan Smolinske, director of the Poison Center at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and report contributor.
To Schwartz, this report’s number of agricultural related cases is especially low, when considering the state.
Michigan had more than 55,000 farms and 10 million acres of farmland in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They produced nearly $3 billion, ranking the state as one of the largest agriculture economies in the country. It is first in the U.S. for the production of blueberries, tart cherries and three kinds of beans.
“Michigan does have a very large agricultural industry so I would expect more [reports] than we get,” Schwartz said. “The exposed person might not report it, and the provider might not ask about it.”
Who keeps track?
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provides grants to 12 state work-related illness surveillance programs. Michigan and New York are the only two Great Lake states that receive the grant.. Not all of them monitor pesticide problems.
Data collection has been refined over the past six years, Schwartz said. More departments and organizations now provide the report’s authors with data on pesticide–related illnesses and injuries.
Only two pesticide injuries have been fatal in the history of the Michigan? surveillance. And many of the others have been preventable, Schwartz said.
“A lot of accidents that happen can be prevented with better maintenance and care,” she said.
Approximately 25 percent of the confirmed cases were from spills and splashes. 23 percent was attributed to mixing incompatible products.
Education for employees and employers would fix a lot, Smolinske said.
“A lot of times there is a very minor change to make,” she said. “This says we are not doing as much as we can as a society in protecting the workforce.”