Pesticide exposure pathways among children of agricultural workers

Aim The focus of this review is to highlight the evidence of the take-home pathway as an additional and substantial route of exposure for children of farm workers. Possible exposure of older children during farm work is not discussed. Subject A critical examination of papers published during the last 15 years concerning this subject was performed. Methods An extensive literature search of the most recent papers was carried out to identify papers describing and reporting circumstances of pesticide exposure among “agricultural workers’ children”. Exclusion criteria included papers older than 1990, those reporting pesticide exposures that occurred among residential settings, pesticide intake with diet (or dietary pesticide exposure) and any pesticide exposure related to individuals other than children (i.e. workers, consumers, bystanders). The data from a total of 11 studies which carried out environmental or biological, or both, sampling have been organised into tables. Results Findings showed evidence of higher pesticide exposure for children of agricultural workers compared with those of non-agricultural workers. This could not be entirely explained by the proximity factor; outcomes suggested that a “take-home” pathway exists and contribute to increasing the indoor contamination of pesticide residues, thus the potential for exposure of children. Further, estimated scenarios indicated that non-dietary ingestion of pesticide residues could lead to intake that exceeds US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) oral chronic reference doses (RfD) (and even European Union acceptable daily intake). Conclusions Although hardly anything can be done with the proximity factor, improving farm workers’ hygiene and correcting some improper behaviour could turn into a considerable benefit for children’s health.