Concerning pesticide residues on produce, I learned that
certain types of produce have much higher levels of pesticides found on them
than others. This depends not only on the type of produce, but the origin of
the plants as well. Many fruits and vegetables grown in the United States have
significant levels of pesticide residue found on them. I did not find this fact
terribly surprising considering our high use of these chemicals. The consumer
report on pesticides gives a helpful table regarding levels of pesticide in
certain common fruits and vegetables depending on where they are grown and when
to opt for organic if possible. In clinics, schools, and other community
settings we as nurses and other health care professionals should distribute
this information. These tables could be blown up and displayed at primary care
and pediatric clinics, schools, and even produce sections of grocery stores to
inform the public about what is really in their food. It is refreshing that
organic is becoming more common and popular in this country, but I do not think
that most truly understand the difference between organic and non-organic and
what it means for their health. I would also love to see organic become more
affordable and accessible to lower income populations. Perhaps more government
subsidies for organic farmers and incentives for more farmers to go organic
could be beneficial in moving in a safer and healthier direction.
Pesticides being used at playgrounds and schools where
children spend a significant amount of their time should be highly concerning
to parents. I think that the first step is awareness, the responsibility of the
school to inform parents that their children have the risk of being exposed to
harmful pesticides. Having a nurse or public health professional attend PTA
meetings to keep parents informed of these types of changes would be an
important addition. Ideally, parents would be informed before pesticides were
applied and could perhaps vote on the use of chemicals. Information about
options concerning pest removal should be distributed to school administrators
as well as parents. They should be able to work in collaboration to determine
the best option. If I had a child that was exposed to potentially high levels
of pesticides, I would most certainly take them to their health care provider
for evaluation. These children may need to be more closely monitored after
acute exposure. Parents need to be educated about signs and symptoms of acute
exposure, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, altered mental status, sweating,
and weakness.
Before starting this module, I have to admit that I was not
prepared in the least to identify acute pesticide exposure or poisoning. I learned
a great deal from the organophosphate training on the UW website. It gave a
comprehensive guide for health care providers to recognize acute signs and
symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning. The authors gave an excellent
description of how the excess of acetylcholine in the nervous system leads to
the symptoms seen in acute poisoning, like copious oral and respiratory secretions,
diarrhea, and vomiting. When a child presents with these symptoms, I will feel
more comfortable including this in my differential and attempting to rule it
out.
After reading about the adverse health consequences to pesticide exposure in children, as a nurse, I feel the need to alert my own family about this growing crisis in America. Pesticides can be found in the home, school, other buildings, lawns and gardens, and through contaminated food sprayed with chemicals.
ReplyDeleteExposure can also come from carry-home exposure of parents occupationally exposed to pesticides. Prenatal exposure during the child's gestation may have long-lasting effects on fetal growth and development and cancer may be an outcome. Malignancies linked to pesticides in case reports or case-control studies include leukemia, neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumor, soft-tissue sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and brain, colorectal, and testicular cancer have all been reported in studies around the globe. Although these studies have been limited by nonspecific pesticide exposure information, small numbers of exposed subjects, it is noteworthy that many of the reported increased risks are of greater magnitude than those observed in studies of pesticide-exposed adults, suggesting that children may be particularly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of pesticides. Future research should include improved exposure assessment, evaluation of risk by age at exposure, and investigation of possible genetic-environment interactions. There is potential to prevent at least some childhood cancer by reducing or eliminating pesticide exposure.
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Learning how harmful pesticides are I am now more aware of my is in my environment. Educating our patient and healthcare providers about he sign and symptoms pesticide can case, I think we can learn how to treat and prevent because all of these chemicals are hurting our bodies and and our environment all together.
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