This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Intensive agriculture pesticide use has been proposed as a cause of disease in humans. This project uses epidemiological methods to test that premise. The research goals of this project are to assess the relationships of pesticide exposure and human disease and to lay the groundwork for more focused hypothesis-based studies in the future. The strength of association between the occurrence of different types of cancer in people within Mississippi counties and the cumulative level of pesticide-use in those counties over time is being assessed using data from the Mississippi State Department of Health Central Cancer Registry, harvested crop records from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, and the U.S. Census. Information from a total of 42,801 cancer cases from 1996 through 1999 and county levels of 107 different pesticides used per harvested acre of 6 different crops from 1970 to 2001, as well as surface area and population demographics (race/ethnicity, gender, age) of each Mississippi county are currently undergoing a multistage statistical analysis. A second study in this project is assessing the validity of using historical crop estimates as measures of potential pesticide exposure levels. The correlation between estimates of county-wide pesticide use, actual farm pesticide use records, and randomly sampled environmental pesticide levels in three Mississippi Delta counties will be determined. Three counties were selected based on historical use of atrazine: Issaquena (high use), Quitman (medium use), and Tunica (low use). Soil sample and surface water sample sites were randomly selected and identified using geographic information systems data and global positioning system technology. Sample collection, analysis of physical parameters of soil samples, extraction and analysis of samples for pesticide levels, and recording of field data, such as pH of water samples and vegetation type at soil sample sites, are continuing.
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