AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL CHEMICAL POISONINGS - MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY IN THE UNITED-STATES

Study objective: To provide a comprehensive analysis of morbidity and mortality from poisoning by agricultural and horticultural chemicals i n the United States. Methods: Descriptive analysis of national mortali ty data, National Hospital Discharge Survey data, and American Associa tion of Poison Control Centers national data for 1985 through 1990. Re sults: There were 341 fatalities from agricultural and horticultural c hemicals over the 6-year period, of which 64% were suicides, 28% were unintentional, and 8% were of undetermined intent. There were 25,418 h ospitalizations; 78% were reported to be unintentional. Both deaths an d hospitalizations occurred more frequently in males, and rates were h igher in nonwhites than in whites. There were 338,170 poison exposures reported to poison centers for fungicides, herbicides, pesticides/ins ecticides, and rodenticides. Life-threatening manifestations or long-t erm sequelae occurred in 782 cases, and 97 deaths were reported. Pesti cides and insecticides accounted for 72% of the poison center cases an d 63% of the fatalities. Although they accounted far only 8% of poison exposures, herbicide deaths were disproportionately high (25%). Concl usion: Poisonings with agricultural and horticultural chemicals are an important public health problem. Prevention efforts need to incorpora te the fact that many serious cases, such as paraquat poisonings, are suicidal in nature.