The following is taken from a fact sheet developed by the Agricultural Health Study, a multiyear study by the federal government examining the long-term effects of pesticides on large numbers of farmers and their families in Iowa and North Carolina, as indicators of these effects throughout the United States. Many of the findings of this study are applicable to commercial pesticide applicators and their families as well. The fact sheet can be found at http://aghealth.nci.nih.gov/pdfs/IAPesticideResiduesAtHome2007.pdf.

Farmers use a wide variety of pesticides to help protect their crops and animals. Although children and other family members may not take part in farming activities involving pesticide use, they can still be exposed if residues are tracked into the home on shoes or clothes.

In 2001, researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Cancer Institute, and the University of Iowa worked with a small group of families from the Agricultural Health Study to find out if pesticides were being tracked into their homes.

They visited 25 non-farm homes and 25 farm homes in Iowa. At some of the farm homes, pesticides had recently been applied on crops or animals and at others not. Each home was visited twice in the spring. Farms where pesticides had been recently applied were visited shortly after pesticide spraying and again 4 weeks later. During each visit, they collected dust from carpets and wipes from hard surfaces in the kitchen, entranceway, laundry area, changing area, living room, children's playroom, and children's bedroom. They also took air samples in the living rooms and outside the homes.

They tested for six commonly used herbicides: atrazine, metolachlor, glyphosate, 2,4-D, acetochlor, and alachlor (acetochlor and alachlor were undetectable in most of the samples); and one common insecticide: chlorpyrifos. Overall, chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, and 2,4-D (which are pesticides used in both residential and agricultural settings) were found in dust samples in most farm and non-farm homes. In addition, farm homes had higher amounts of pesticide residue in air, dust, and hard-surface samples, as compared to non-farm homes. Also, pesticides were found more often in dust from carpets than in the air or on hard surfaces.

On farms where atrazine and metolachlor had been applied to crops, higher amounts of these pesticides were found in rooms where dirt was tracked in or where a farmer's outdoor clothes were left. Traces of these two pesticides were also found in the children's bedrooms and playrooms, though the levels were very low. Results for metolachlor were similar to those for atrazine.

The levels of pesticides found in the farm and non-farm homes in this study are not a cause for immediate concern. Efforts to minimize exposures are desirable. Although long-term effects of low-level exposure to pesticides are not known at this time, young children may be more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of pesticides because their organ systems are still developing. Also, they can be exposed to pesticides through contact with contaminated surfaces such as carpet dust.

Family members can reduce pesticide exposure in the home by (1) removing work clothes in an area away from the rest of the house, and washing them separately from the other laundry, (2) Removing work shoes and boots before going into the house, (3) vacuuming the carpets and cleaning the floors on a regular basis, (4) closing all the windows and doors in the house during pesticide spraying, and (5) keeping children and pets inside when pesticides are applied, and not letting them play in pesticide-treated areas until the label-specified reentry times have passed.

(Adapted by Phil Nixon from a fact sheet developed by the Agricultural Health Study.)