Occupational injury and illness among migrant and seasonal farmworkers in New York State and Pennsylvania, 1997-1999: pilot study of a new surveillance method.

Background: Traditional worksite injury surveillance methods are often ineffective for Northeastern farms employing seasonal harvest labor. Many are small farms, exempt from mandatory injury reporting. The high proportion of foreign workers and the temporary nature of the work further discourages reporting.

Reclamation of pesticides in New York State.

Background: Unwanted agrichemicals pose a unique threat that many states now address this with statewide collection programs. In New York, this is done at the discretion of individual counties.

Methods: We compiled and analyzed registration inventories from five separate county-based pesticide collections located in three different agricultural regions.

Ergonomic exposures in apple harvesting: preliminary observations.

Background: Recent research on occupational injury to apple harvest workers in New York and Pennsylvania indicates that muscle strain is one of their leading problems. A descriptive study of ergonomic risks for strains of the shoulder and lower back among apple harvesters was carried out to identify opportunities for intervention.

Methods: Based upon pilot observation in four orchards, a Posture-Activities-Tools-Handling (PATH) data collection template was designed and used to analyze the work of fifty-one workers in eight additional apple orchards.

Time dependent memory decay.

Background: To estimate the rate of time dependent memory decay, injury rates from three independent studies were compared.

Methods: The studies asked subjects to recall injuries during the previous 2 months, 12 months, or 10 years.

Results: The annual injury rates obtained were 108/1,000, 66/1,000, and 19/1,000, respectively.

Food-bound B12 absorption and serum total homocysteine in patients with low serum B12 levels.

This study was undertaken to determine whether measurements of serum total homocysteine (Hcys) and bound B12 absorption are useful in determining which patients with low- or low-normal levels of serum B12 are B12 deficient. In 40 patients with low or borderline serum levels of B12, food-bound B12 absorptions were determined using a body counter in an iron room, and were related to serum total Hcys levels. Food-bound B12 absorption was decreased in 16 patients and in an additional four, absorption of the free vitamin was also decreased.