Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure Among Pome and Non-Pome Farmworkers: A Subgroup Analysis of a Community Randomized Trial.

Abstract

We examined the effectiveness of a community randomized intervention among farmworkers who did and did not work in pome fruit (apples and pears). Urine samples were collected from two cross-sectional groups of farmworkers and analyzed for the presence of dimethylthiophosphate. There was no significant time by crop interaction for changes in urinary metabolite concentrations among adult farmworkers (P = 0.79 pome fruit workers; P = 0.83 non-pome fruit workers) or their children (P = 0.25 children of pome fruit workers; P = 0.91 children of non-pome fruit workers). We found greater urinary metabolite concentrations of dimethylthiophosphate among pome fruit workers (compared with non-pome fruit workers) and among workers at final data collection (compared with baseline). Further research is needed to identify effective interventions to reduce pesticide exposure in farmworkers and their children.