Son, I did everything I could. I just did not know. So I figured, let s err on the side of safety if we have to err at all. . . . There are nearly 400,000 young children in the United States who actually live on farms, and an additional five million agricultural workers living near farms, many of whom have children. Other groups of people who do not farm may also have pesticide exposures similar to those discussed in this report.
Agricultural work is difficult and dangerous.
Annual rates of work-related deaths among farm workers are two to four times greater than those for the general workforce. Migrant farmworkers are likely to be poor, members of minority groups, and often immigrants. They bear the brunt of the risks and are most likely to be overlooked by scientists and regulators. In addition to long workdays, injuries, and fatalities associated with agricultural work, pesticides pose a particularly serious threat to people living or working in the fields. Agriculture is a workplace unlike many others in our country.