University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. (2019, August 8). Chronic kidney disease epidemic in agricultural workers: High heat, toxins. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 11, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190508185839.htm

 

A recent study has found a link between chronic kidney disease and exposure to toxins and infections in agricultural workers and manual laborers in California. Researchers say that the disease could be caused by “heat, a direct health impact of climate change, as well as pesticides like glyphosate”. The researchers say that the pesticides are nephrotoxic, meaning they are toxic to the kidneys. They hypothesize that the  pesticides “could possibly contaminate the water supply” that the laborers drink, affecting their kidneys. The study suggests that the overseers of the farm should “maintain a clean water supply, free of chemicals toxic to the kidneys” to keep their workers safe. Additionally, they say that if there are large clusters of the illness in a certain area or from a certain employer, public health professionals should be notified in order to promote healthy work environments for the laborers.

 

This article didn’t surprise me in that I am aware of the many different ways that working in the environment and with agriculture can lead to health issues. It made me upset to read about the people who are working in these conditions, and the way they make money and a living is simultaneously killing or hurting them. There has to be a way to find healthy ways to farm, because damaging workers lungs isn’t going to work forever. Just like the last article, I think that research into alternatives to pesticides is the best response to this rise in disease because of pesticides. We should be proactive about how we are hurting our workforce because the issues will catch up to the agriculture community eventually and we cannot support and collapse in agriculture, our entire economy will fail if we don’t support sustainable agriculture.