Study Links Pesticides To Farmers' Depression
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Study Links Pesticides To Farmers' Depression
Date:
Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:59:09 -0500
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
November 14, 2002 - Rocky Mountain News
Study Links Pesticides To Farmers' Depression By Bill Scanlon.
Colorado farmers who sprayed with organophosphates were almost six times more likely to suffer depression than those who didn't use the pesticide, a study shows.
Overexposure to pesticides has long been linked to cancer and other health problems, but the link to depression is newer.
Colorado State University psychology professor Lorann Stallones recruited 761 farmers and their spouses who were farming in northeast Colorado between 1992 and 1997.
Sixty-nine of the participants reported being sickened by pesticide poisoning. Those farmers were 5.8 times more likely to score high on tests measuring depression levels than those who didn't use the chemicals, Stallones said. That was after the researchers factored for age, alcohol use and other variables.
The study shows a link between pesticide use and depression, but not an underlying cause, said Stallones. "Many more questions need to be answered."
The study by Stallones and co-author Cheryl Beseler appeared in a recent issue of Annals of Epidemiology.
Organophosphates can be nasty, so most farmers who use them wear face masks, long sleeves and gloves, said Alan Foutz, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau.
"The use of these chemicals has decreased over the past 20 years," he said. Many farmers have switched to pyrethroids, which kill pests without as many dangerous chemicals.
Farmers are "very cognizant of safety procedures. And of course we advocate best practices," including following the directions on the label, Foutz said. "The welfare and safety of our members is our primary concern."
The Colorado Farm Bureau represents 7,000 farm families in the state.
The CSU study, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Therapy and Health, found that except for the Colorado farmers who had been poisoned by pesticides, Colorado farm families are no more likely to be depressed than non-farmers.
That's somewhat surprising because other studies have found suicide rates higher among farmers, and have attributed that to isolation, low crop prices and other causes.
Foutz, who has farmed near Akron for 20 years, said, "I've never noticed that farm families are more depressed than other families."
Until recently, that is.
"There's a lot of stress going on now, after four years of drought," Foutz said. "There are a lot of farm families just really hurting financially."
Stallones noted that she conducted the interviews before the current drought. "The economic times in Colorado were not so bad" during the interview stage.
Foutz predicts that 15 percent to 30 percent of his Eastern Plains farming neighbors "won't be here next spring" because of the financial drain on water-starved farms.
Copyright 2002, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1544626,00.html
Professor Lorann Stallones,MPH, PhD
Phone: (970) 491-6156
Email:
Lorann.Stallones@colostate.edu
Email: lorann@colostate.edu
Colorado Injury Control Research Center
Department of Psychology
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO USA 80523-1676
Areas of Interest: Agricultural Safety & Health, Injury Epidemiology, Reproductive Health, Role of Companion Animals in Human Health
Courses Taught: EH 332 Environmental Health-Principles of Epidemiology; EH 515 Women's Health; EH 696 Group Study in Epidemiology
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/erhs/faculty/stallones/stallones.html
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/EnHealth/CICRC/Organization.htm
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