The Health Impacts of Pesticide Use on Sugarcane Farmers in Fiji

Abstract

A survey conducted among sugarcane farmers in Fiji found significant differences in the incidence of chronic illness and disease between users of pesticides and a non-user control group. Though average production of sugarcane was markedly higher among pesticide users, average annual medical expenditures were also significantly higher. Advanced technological methods including chemical pesticides require a system of institutional support to provide, inter alia, information for an effective transition from traditional to modern agricultural practices. Without that support the ad hoc application of technology may result in inefficiency and, in the case of pesticides, increased health risks among the farm population. Besides practical handling and application advice farmers require information describing the chronic health impacts of pesticide exposure to allow their weighing of the full costs of pesticide use against the production benefits.

Keywords

Farmer health Pesticides Sugarcane Fiji Pacific agriculture

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Ellis F . Peasant Economics: farm households and agrarian development. Melbourne. Cambridge University Press. 1993:154–6.

2. Morgan DP. Recognition and management of pesticide poisonings, 2nd edition. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, 1977. Washington, D.C.

3. Nemery B. The lungs as a target for the toxicity of some organophosphorous compounds. In NATO ASI series vol. H13.1987. Brussels, Belgium.

4. Pingali PL , Marquez CB , Palis FG . Pesticides and Philippine rice farmer health: a medical and economic analysis. Am J Agricul Econ 1994; 76: 587–92.

5. Durham WF , Armstrong JF. Exposure of workers to pesticides. Arch Environ Health 1967; 14: 622–33.

6. Cole DC , McConnell R , Murray DL , Anton FP . Pesticide illness surveillance: The Nicaraguan experience. Pan Am Health Organization Bull 1988; 22 (2): 119–32.

7. Ramasamy S , Nursiah MTA . A survey of pesticide use and associated incidences of poisoning in Peninsular Malaysia. J Plant Protection in the Tropics. 1988; 5 (1): 1–9

8. Fiji Sugar Corporation (a), personal communication, December 1998.

9. World Health Organisation, 1999 website: www.who.int/whosis/.

10.

10. Fiji Sugar Corporation (b), Sugar Cane Research Centre Annual Report, 1997–98. Lautoka, Fiji.

11.

11. Briggs SA . Basic guide to pesticides: their characteristics and hazards. Taylor and Francis.

Washington, D.C.

1992.

12.

12. United States Department of Agriculture. National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program. Biologic and economic assessment of benefits from the use of phenoxy herbicides in the United States. Special NAPIAP report number 1-PA-96, 1996 November.

13.

13. Hoar SK , Blair A , Holmes FF. , et al. Agriculture herbicide use and risk of lymphoma and soft tissue sarcoma. JAMA, 1986; 256: 1141–7.

14.

14. Hardell L , Eriksson, M. The association between soft tissue sarcomas and exposure to phenoxyacetic acids. Cancer, 1988; 62: 652–6.

15.

15. Sjöden PO , Söderberg, V. Phenoxyacetic acids: sublethal effects. In: Ramel, C , editor. Chlorinated phenoxy acids and their dioxins. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Ecological Bulletin, Stockholm. 1978; 27.

16.

16. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association. Cancer risk of pesticides in agricultural workers. JAMA, 1988; 260: 959–66.

17.

17. Bocchett A , Corsini GU . Parkinson's disease and pesticides. Lancet II, 1986; 1163.