| Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Neurobehavioral Performance in Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Hispanic Workers Joan Rothlein,1 Diane Rohlman,1 Michael Lasarev,1 Jackie
Phillips,2 Juan Muniz,3 and Linda McCauley3 1Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology,
Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA; 2Oregon
Child Development Coalition, Wilsonville, Oregon, USA; 3University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract
Our understanding of the health risks of farmworkers exposed to pesticides in their work and home environments is rapidly increasing, although studies designed to examine the possible neurobehavioral effects of low-level chronic pesticide exposure are limited. We measured dialkyl phosphate urinary metabolite levels, collected environmental dust samples from a subset of homes, obtained information on work practices, and conducted neurobehavioral tests on a sample of farmworkers in Oregon. Significant correlations between urinary methyl metabolite levels and total methyl organophosphate (azinphos-methyl, phosmet, malathion) house dust levels were observed. We found the neurobehavioral performance of Hispanic immigrant farmworkers to be lower than that observed in a nonagricultural Hispanic immigrant population, and within the sample of agricultural workers there was a positive correlation between urinary organophosphate metabolite levels and poorer performance on some neurobehavioral tests. These findings add to an increasing body of evidence of the association between low levels of pesticide exposure and deficits in neurobehavioral performance. Key words: biomarkers, farmworkers, neurobehavior, occupational health, organophosphates, pesticides. Environ Health Perspect 114: 691-696 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8182 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 23 January 2006]
Address correspondence to L.A. McCauley, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, School of Nursing 427L, 420 Guardian Dr., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6096. Telephone: (215) 898-9160. Fax: (215) 898-3056. E-mail: lmccaule@nursing.upenn.edu We thank the farmworkers who participated in this study and the farmworker advocate organizations Centro de Ayuda, Un Paso Adelante, and the Oregon Child Development Coalition that assisted with recruitment and providing space for the conduct of this study. This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) through a Community-Based Prevention Research Grant (R01 ES08707) . The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the NIEHS. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 7 April 2005 ; accepted 23 January 2006.
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