Introduction - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 14

surveillance was conducted by the NCHS and select state health departments
(Burkart et al., 1978; Marx et al., 1985; Zey et al., 1985; Gunderson et al., 1987,
1993; Blair, 1988; Meyers, 1988; National Mental Health Association, 1988; Pearce
and Reif, 1988; Rodricks and Rachman, 1988; Stallones, 1988; Cohen et al., 1989;
Wiener et al., 1989; Bresnitz et al., 1990), and a large body of educational initiatives
was supplemented by those in academe involved in intervention research (Roman,
1987; NCASH, 1988; Gunderson, 1989, 1990; Schwartz and Cohen, 1990; Lexau et
al., 1993; Ambruster, 1991; McGinnis, 1991; Von Essen, 1996). This has resulted in
a body of research literature, clinical findings, and injury control education.
By 1988, state agricultural safety specialists, epidemiologists, policy analysts,
and public health professionals were routinely meeting at professional conferences
to explore the potential for national congressional action. Working from a template
constructed by the Association of Schools of Public Health, they consulted with
U.S. House and Senate staff as ideas entered formal stages (ASPH, 1988). Meet-
ings, such as one sponsored by the National Coalition for Agricultural Safety and
Health (NCASH) in 1988, provided an opportunity to explore recent surveillance
findings and potential interventions (Donham and Storm, 1988; NCASH, 1988).
Those efforts culminated in the passage by Congress of Public Law 101-517 in 1990
(U.S. Congress, 1990a), which directed NIOSH to establish a program for improv-
ing the health and safety of agricultural workers and their families. P.L. 101-517
specifically called for
• A Farm Family Health and Hazard Survey in order to develop more com-
plete information on the circumstances of agricultural injury and other disease
problems.
• Research exploring the etiology of agricultural injuries and disease.
• Establishment of extramural Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury
Research, Education, and Prevention at selected universities.
• Establishment of a national Agricultural Health Promotion System in col-
laboration with the nation's county extension agents.
• An Agricultural Health Nurse Surveillance Program in which rural hospitals
would provide ongoing responsive (focused at intervention) surveillance to identify
agriculture-related disease and injury problems.
Congress recognized that agricultural workers were suffering higher rates of
unintentional injury and illness than other U.S. workers, even those in other extrac-
tive industries. Congress was led to believe, by the sheer weight of expert testimony
delivered in support of P.L. 101-517, that NIOSH was capable of leading a compre-
hensive national effort devoted to preventing injury and disease in the nation's 3.4
million workers in agricultural settings (NIOSH, 1992a). The testimony pertained
to production agriculture alone; forestry and fishing were not conceptually ad-