Pesticide exposure increases risk of asthma

A study conducted by Dr Jane A. Hoppin from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., has found that pesticide exposure increases the risk of asthma. The presentation, given at the European Respiratory Annual Congress in Stockholm, Sweden last weekend, detailed the findings from a study of more than 20,000 United States farmers. The study found that farmers exhibiting a history of high pesticide exposure were 200% more likely to suffer from asthma. Hoppin explained that, “the link between pesticide exposure and asthma risk remained statistically significant after adjusting for a variety of potentially confounding factors including age, smoking, body weight and state of residence”.

The study showed that twelve pesticides show a statistically significant link to a rise in the risk of allergic asthma, while four are linked to a rise in the rate of non-allergic asthma. Coumaphos, EPTC, lindane, parathion, heptachlor, and 2,4,5-TP were most strongly linked to allergic asthma, while DDT, malathion, and phorate were most strongly linked with non-allergic asthma.

Interestingly, the focus of this study was on male farm workers from Iowa and North Carolina in the United States. Fortunately, these farmers are afforded a degree of government-mandated occupational protection. One can only ponder what conclusions this study would have reached had the focus been on farmers from, so-called, third world nations where occupational legislation is weak at best, and in many instances non-existent. Farmers in these nations are routinely subjected to prolonged exposure to a range of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that have, due to their known carcinogenic potential, been banned in the United States and elsewhere.