Review of Health Effects Research - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 90

field primarily through its partnership with NCI and NIEHS—a reasonable divi-
sion of labor. As noted above, the major focus of the joint effort through the AHS
has been on defining associations between pesticide exposure and cancer; research
on neurological disease outcomes related to pesticide exposure, such as Parkinson's
disease, has been a secondary interest. Much less effort has been devoted to creat-
ing recommendations, devising interventions, and building capacity in this field
as well. However, the effort in general is an excellent example of NIOSH collabo-
ration with other government agencies interested in the health and well-being of
AFF workers. The AHS has collected a wealth of data that can ultimately be used
to address clinically important questions. The information generated would then
be used to create recommendations for dissemination to farm communities. Little
work has been done through the AFF Program to assess workers in forestry or fish-
ing for evidence of neurological disease. Revisiting vibration-induced neurological
disease may be appropriate.
Reproductive Health
Modest AFF Program funding has been devoted to studying reproductive
outcomes in farm families. No firm conclusions have been drawn from the work,
and no recommendations have been formulated by NIOSH. The committee is not
aware of any NIOSH-funded work in this field in forestry and fishing.
Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions
Osteoarthritis of weight-bearing joints is an important problem in farmers.
Scientific work on it has been done mostly in Europe. There is no NIOSH-funded
work in this field in forestry or fishing.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
The epidemiology of hearing loss and strategies for hearing conservation are
important topics for the AFF sector. NIOSH has a separate Hearing Loss Program,
which underwent program review in 2006 (IOM and NRC, 2006). Within the AFF
Program, there has been a relatively small but steady stream of projects character-
izing hearing loss and use of personal protective devices, mostly conducted through
the Ag Centers. Research outputs—which include published reports, scientific
manuscripts, training materials, and dissemination of these products—address
hearing conservation, hearing loss as a risk factor for injury, comparisons of self-
reported hearing to audiometric testing, prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss,
and task-based and animal-based exposure assessment. While the majority of activ-