Environmental Health Technology (Tech)

Agricultural workers in the state of Washington must deal with numerous hazards in their daily work ranging from threats of falling off of ladders to turning over tractors. While these incidents are usually one-time accidents, many field workers are exposed daily to numerous types of pesticides.

It has been shown that people with asthma are a sensitive subpopulation to inhaled sulfur dioxide (SO2); decrements in pulmonary function occur in subjects after exposure to low concentrations even for a short duration of time. There is a great amount of inter-individual variation in response to SO2.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of a one enzyme versus two enzymes in microbial source tracking studies.

Acid lead arsenate (PbHAsO4) was the primary insecticide used to control the codling moth in Washington fruit orchards between 1905 and 1947 (Benson, 1968; Peryea, 1991). Lead arsenate solution was sprayed directly onto the trees using hand sprayers. Excess spray dripped from the trees contaminating soils beneath or near them.

Agriculture is a vital industry in Washington State. In 1998, agriculture directly employed 91,700 workers, making it the third largest employment sector behind only the construction and aircraft industries providing jobs in the state of Washington.

When performing human health risk assessments, dermal-soil risks frequently need to be calculated. Current regulatory guidance utilizes multiple, non-event specific point estimates of input parameters to produce a single, deterministic estimate of exposure. The Soil Contact Rate (SCR) is proposed as a metric of dermal exposure to soil.

The objective of this study was to determine whether or not exposure to a low level of nitrogen dioxide could cause cardio-respiratory effects in health elderly people. Ten healthy subjects (67-85 years of age) were exposed to clean air and 300 ppb nitrogen dioxide for 30 minutes while at rest.

Pesticides are used throughout the world for commercial agriculture, residential, and public pest control. Their use presents potential health risks to agricultural workers, residential occupants, and others who may be exposed including children in daycare facilities or schools. Pesticide residues are also present in or on food as a result of their use in the agricultural industry.

The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that increased exposure to soils due to farming activities and lifestyle and consumption of produce grown in arsenic contaminated soils will result in increased urinary arsenic levels among farmers and their family members.

Air pollutant monitoring is utilized for determining compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), detecting sources of pollutants, and investigating the health effects of air pollution through epidemiological studies. The effectiveness of monitoring depends on how representative monitoring sites are of overall ambient air concentrations to which a population is most exposed.