Pesticide Illness and Injury Control

Programs that establish surveillance systems for occupational pesticide related illness and injury that are designed to protect workers in the industry by determining the magnitude and underlying causes of over-exposure to pesticides in the workplace. Surveillance also serves as an early warning system of any harmful effects not detected by manufacturer testing of pesticides. Agricultural workers, groundskeepers, pet groomers, fumigators, and a variety of other occupations are at risk for exposure to pesticides including fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides and sanitizers. Besides tabulating the number of acute occupational pesticide-related cases, these surveillance systems perform in-depth investigations for case confirmation, and develop preventive interventions aimed at particular industries or pesticide hazards. The program is most useful for timely identification of outbreaks and emerging pesticide problems.