10/02/06 Farmers are healthier

Farmers are healthier. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Results from a recent health study indicate that farmers are healthier than the general population. Pesticide Education Specialist for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Larry Schulze says the study - involving thousands of pesticide applicators and their spouses - is considered the largest, most comprehensive study of agricultural health ever conducted in the United States... SCHULZE: About 32,000 farmers that are pesticide applicators in Iowa and about 20,000 in North Carolina. And they are being followed over time and monitoring their health and we're learning some very good things. Schulze says some general findings from the long term study indicate that farmers live longer - have lower heart disease deaths - and a lower death rate caused by some cancers. SCHULZE: The farm population are more active than the general population. They also happen to be in the long run, individuals that smoke less and so as a result of that they are a healthier population. However - Schulze says farmers are not immune to serious health problems. SCHULZE: Actually in the rates of cancer, 18 out of 20 cancers in this study that were studied here, they are lower rates with the farm population than they are with the general population. At the same time though we see a 14% increase in prostate cancer among chemical applicators, pesticide applicators. So the bottom line, wear protective clothing and equipment as the label directs. Schulze says the study includes a very extensive survey that will help in providing answers to questions in regards to health issues in agriculture. SCHULZE: It even went to the level of detail of having about a 250 question survey taken of each person to learn about their lifestyle, their habits, their exposure to all different types of chemicals in and around their environment, to learn about their medical history and family history. And when you put all that together, you end up with a Cole-Hart study. Now a Cole-Hart study is one where you take a group of participants and you follow them in time and you learn so much more with that type of study than if you take a group of sick people today and you try and go backwards in time to figure out why they got sick. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.