In class work 2/6+2/8 Methods

1. Hu, R., Huang, X., Huang, J., Li, Y., Zhang, C., Yin, Y., … Cui, F. (2015). Long- and Short-Term Health Effects of Pesticide Exposure: A Cohort Study from China. PLoS ONE, 10(6), e0128766. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128766
2. Cohort
3. The authors of this study use the cohort method to study the long-term and short-term effects on blood and neurological functions upon pesticide exposure. This cohort study included 246 agricultural farmers from three different provinces in china that are regularly exposed to pesticides. Neurological and blood examinations were administered by doctors before and after exposure to pesticides to test for adverse effects.
4. The results of this study concluded that the long-term effects of pesticide exposure among the farmers indicated an abnormality in nerve functioning, especially in sensory nerves. The short-term effects indicated a change in blood count, a decrease of renal function, and a slowness of the nervous system.
5. One interesting thing from this study was that the short-term effects could not be seen 3 days after exposure but the long-term effects were seen even after 3 years of exposure.

1. Michelle D. Boone, Christine A. Bishop, Leigh A. Boswell, Robert D. Brodman, Joanna Burger, Carlos Davidson, Michael Gochfeld, Jason T. Hoverman, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Rick A. Relyea, Jason R. Rohr, Christopher Salice, Raymond D. Semlitsch, Donald Sparling, Scott Weir; Pesticide Regulation amid the Influence of Industry. BioScience 2014; 64 (10): 917-922. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biu138
2. Policy
3. This study uses the policy method to study the regulation of pesticides that are in place in the U.S. or lack thereof. The authors use the effects of pesticides on biodiversity such as amphibians as an example of the lack of proper pesticide risk assessment from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The study mentioned that there is a lack of information on the process of risk-analysis so this is why they decided to perform such study.
4. The conclusion of the study was that the current regulatory system is highly bias because most of the risk assessment studies are conducted by the pesticide manufacturing companies themselves and because most of the data are eliminated for review. The data on pesticides effects on biodiversity was also controlled so that the laboratories suggested that no further research be done on the subject. In summary, the current data on regulation of pesticides shows a conflict of interest among the pesticide companies.
5. Before reading this article, I did not know that the majority of regulation research is done by pesticide companies, and thus makes the whole thing very bias.

1. Shedra Amy Snipes, Beti Thompson, Kathleen O'Connor, Bettina Shell-Duncan, Denae King, Angelica P. Herrera, and Bridgette Navarro.  “Pesticides Protect the Fruit, but Not the People”: Using Community-Based Ethnography to Understand Farmworker Pesticide-Exposure Risks. American Journal of Public Health: November 2009, Vol. 99, No. S3, pp. S616-S621.doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.148973
2.  Ethnography
3. The authors of this article used community-based ethnography and public health risks assessment to measure risk perception of pesticide exposure among farmworkers in the U.S.
4. The results of the study concluded many things including:

• Farmworkers perceive powder pesticides as harmless
• Farmworkers do not prioritize handwashing after handling pesticides

       5. One thing that I found interesting from this study is that farmworkers perceived powder         pesticides as harmless.

1. Lu, C., Toepel, K., Irish, R., Fenske, R. A., Barr, D. B., & Bravo, R. (2006). Organic diets significantly lower children's dietary exposure to organophosphorus pesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(2), 260+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.unr.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=HRCA&sw=w&u=reno&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA143213734&sid=summon&asid=6b3e9681fcb18e60b96adcd3d3edec7f
2. Research
3. The authors of this study controlled the diets of 23 elementary-aged school children by only feeding them organic foods for five days. The researchers then took multiple urine samples of the children to test for organophosphorus pesticide, a pesticide commonly used on crops.
4. The results concluded that an organic diet significantly lowered exposure of organophosphorus pesticide in young children.
5. From this study, I learned that dietary intake is a major source of pesticide exposure in children.