An informative selection of papers presented at the Medical Workshop on Pesticide-Related Illnesses

It is vital to understand the public health impact of pesticides used in modern day agriculture. Unfortunately, scientifically valid information is often scattered and hard to find. Proceedings from the Medical Workshop on Pesticide-Related Illness is the essential text that fills these two voids. The papers collected here make up a volume that is a timely review of key issues in both the acute and chronic health effects of pesticide exposure.

Proceedings from the Medical Workshop on Pesticide-Related Illness offers work originally presented at the groundbreaking 2002 International Conference on Pesticide Exposure and Health in Washington, DC. However, in order to reflect recent developments in the field, all of the authors have revised, updated, and expanded their presentations to address the current status of knowledge in pesticide health effects upon the major body organ systems. This up-to-date reference not only provides a wealth of relevant information on pesticide intoxication, it also offers viable solutions to the challenges of understanding the effects exposure has on health.

Papers featured in Proceedings from the Medical Workshop on Pesticide-Related Illness examine:

• potential mechanisms, examples for each, and an algorithm for etiologic diagnoses of contact dermatitis in agriculture
• the specific acute and chronic neurological effects of pesticides on both central and peripheral nervous systems
• in-depth examples of male and female reproductive disorders associated with pesticide exposure and timeframes of diagnosis from weeks to months to years
• anatomical site-based outlines for the role of pesticide exposures in the etiology of human cancer and evaluations of recent developments in exposure assessment and molecular epidemiology in adults and children
• goals, components, and functions of population-based public health surveillance for acute pesticide intoxications as well as the investigation of disease clusters, the use of complementary exposure monitoring data, and confidentiality issues
• US government pesticide risk management efforts over time and in recent years, relevant to specific chronic health risks and the development of “reduced risk” products

Proceedings from the Medical Workshop on Pesticide-Related Illness also includes valuable appendices that provide readers with a list of additional information sources, pesticide intoxication reporting forms, and the pesticide poisoning severity score (PPSS). This is an essential resource for health care and public health practitioners, occupational health professionals, and governmental employees dealing with the environment.