agricultural workforce has declined from 6.8 million to 2.8 million, this decline has been nearly matched by the increase in migrant and seasonal farm workers. Further, the decrease in numbers of traditional farm families has been largely matched by an increase in hired farm workers. While the number of farms in the United States has declined by 30% over the past four decades and the number of Americans living on farms has decreased fourfold in the same time period, the decrease in agricultural populations has not been as great ( 5). Some definitions of agriculture also include fishing and forestry, but they will not be addressed in this review. Similarly, studies of cotton dust exposure in manufacturing are included in this review because this industry covers the primary processing of an agricultural product (cotton) and exposures in this setting (e.g., endotoxin) are relevant to other agricultural environments. For example, animal feed production is included because similar exposures may occur in a variety of agricultural settings. These have been reviewed on an individual basis, with consideration of whether data exist on respiratory disease and whether exposures may occur in other agricultural settings. This definition has been used in the present review, but it is recognized that there are some settings that may in part be considered agricultural and in part manufacturing. Thus, the term comprises a spectrum of pursuits, from growing to processing, and a wide range of commodities. Agriculture was in turn defined as embracing all forms of activity connected with growing, harvesting, and primary processing of all types of crops with breeding, raising, and caring for animals and with tending gardens and nurseries.
The clinical, social, and monetary benefits of conquering the array of respiratory disorders caused by farm work may be substantial.Īn agricultural worker was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1962 as any person engaged either permanently or temporarily, irrespective of legal status, in activities related to agriculture ( 4). Respiratory diseases due to agricultural exposures are, at least in theory, preventable. In the United States, there are more than 5 million individuals involved in agricultural production in many developing countries, over 70% of the work force may be involved in agriculture. This risk obtains despite the lower prevalence of smoking among them, compared with the general population, thus further implicating occupational risk factors for respiratory disease.Īgricultural respiratory disease is also an important public health problem the affected population is a large one.
Numerous studies, many cited in this document, have demonstrated a significantly increased risk of respiratory morbidity and mortality among farmers and farm workers. Respiratory disease is today an important clinical problem for agricultural workers.
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The ultimate goal of this effort, as with other reports on occupational respiratory diseases, is to communicate an understanding of respiratory disease in the affected populations and how to prevent it. In this review, we attempt to focus attention on the very real risk of serious respiratory disease posed by exposures in the agricultural environment. Ample data, described in part in these pages, confirm the magnitude and severity of respiratory and other hazards in agriculture. Unfortunately, the myth of the robust, reliably healthy farmer was in actuality a myth that does not correspond with the realities of agricultural life. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds” ( 3). The long-standing “agrarian myth” was exemplified in Thomas Jefferson's declaration that “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. These agricultural hazards, however, are of serious concern.īecause agriculture is so intimately tied to the land, it has generated many myths about the health of farmers ( 2). In general, the investigation of agricultural respiratory hazards has lagged behind the investigation of hazards in mining and other heavy industries. Yet, despite this early recognition of respiratory hazards in agriculture, it has only been in the 20th century that this problem has been carefully studied and documented. As early as 1555, Olaus Magnus warned about the dangers of inhaling grain dusts, and the risk was again noted in 1700 by Ramazzini in his seminal work De Morbis Artificum ( 1). Respiratory diseases associated with agriculture were one of the first-recognized occupational hazards.
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