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Pesticides have been influential drivers of modern society and food production, yet their toxicity to humans and the environment are widespread and significant. Pesticide applicators, co-workers, bystanders, and children are exposed through various routes, resulting in acute and chronic illness, even death. Monitoring pesticide usage and poisoning cases is critical to understand the circumstances that attend exposure. Migrant farmworkers are disproportionately exposed to and affected by pesticides and are less likely to get appropriate medical attention. Chronic health effects have also barely been studied in this population. Through surveillance, it’s possible to gain insights that can guide policy and practice interventions. As a doctoral student, Lupita will organize and analyze data from health care data sources to characterize harmful effects of pesticide-related illnesses (PRI) and exposure conditions. She hopes to utilize these results to highlight PRI for policymakers, employers, and businesses, and instigate policy initiatives aimed at prevention.
MORE ABOUT LUPITA
As a child of a migrant farm worker, and with experience working with underserved immigrant populations, Lupita understands the significance of environmental and occupational health. She aspires to conduct research on how hazardous exposures and economic circumstances integrally affect underserved people, while being driven by her own family’s lived experiences.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — FALL 2023
Developing and evaluating a surveillance system model to facilitate the prevention of pesticide related illness in the State of Illinois
Pesticide related illness (PRI) is a significant problem among agricultural states like Illinois, yet compared to other states’ regulatory systems for reporting PRI, Illinois lacks a proper program for tracking and thus helping to prevent illness. This research project focuses on examining state data, key informant interviews with state and federal agencies, and interviews with farmworkers to determine how my proposed public health surveillance system model can be effective at preventing PRI with the goal of transforming policy around it. Farmworkers are an especially vulnerable group, and integrating them in this project is imperative to be able to assess their knowledge, attitudes about pesticide exposure, and socio-cultural concepts that may facilitate or challenge their willingness to report pesticide exposures.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HPRS DISSERTATION AWARDS, CLICK HERE.
