The overall objectives of this project are to evaluate emerging pesticide application technologies and educational programming as interventions for breaking the pesticide exposure pathway on Northwest fruit farming systems. Labor-intensive fruit commodities put farmworkers and their families at disproportionate risk of pesticide-related illness via pesticide handling, drift, or the take-home exposure pathways.
Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic expansion of the Cannabis industry in multiple US states. Although thousands of new employees are joining the workforce each year, very little is known about the occupational hazards and potential health effects for workers involved in Cannabis cultivation. Recent pilot studies have demonstrated that these workers are exposed to a variety of respiratory hazards and may be at increased risk of occupational lung diseases, particularly work-related asthma.
Offering information and tools to help agricultural safety managers and educators build and expand workplace safety training and programs. Each online course features practical resources, ready-to-use toolkits, and lessons learned developed by researchers and agricultural partners.
Previous research demonstrates the important impact of mental health on the well-being of farmers and farm workers. Farmworkers face seasonal work demands, workplace safety conditions, and occupational stressors that all contribute to the prevalence of stress and anxiety in Latino rural communities. Access to health care and culturally appropriate diagnostic and support services has also been identified as an essential barrier to reducing impact and burden.
Yorba Linda, CA
To pursue medicine in environmental and occupational health.
"While working on the app, I have been able to stand in the middle line of transference where technology meets human health."
- Aarti Tandon
Previous studies have documented high levels of pesticide exposure among Latinx farmworkers. However, most research has focused almost exclusively on men, despite women representing an increasing proportion of the agricultural workforce. Some studies have indicated that women farmworkers experience Acute Pesticide Poisonings (APPs) at significantly higher rates than their male counterparts.
