Family members who work on or near farms can take steps to reduce their children’s exposure to dangerous chemicals. This resource shares ways to keep young children safe from pesticides.

Act quickly

If you think your child is sick from pesticides, act fast. Go directly to the emergency room. Tell the doctor or the health worker that you work or live near the fields and that you think that your child was exposed to pesticides. Take the label with you or write down the name of the pesticide that was used. You also can call Poison Control at 800-222-1222.

Why are pesticides dangerous to young children?

Pesticides are chemicals used on farms and around the home to kill or control pests. Fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides also are pesticides. Some fertilizers have pesticides in them too.

Pesticides can make people feel sick right away. Pesticide poisoning can cause headaches, stomach aches, vomiting, diarrhea, or dizziness, or make it hard to breathe.

Young children who are exposed to pesticides often may be at risk for developing some childhood cancers, such as leukemia. Long-term pesticide exposure also can cause learning problems and increased anxiety.

Children are more at risk because pesticides affect them differently — children eat more, breathe more, and drink more relative to their size than adults. Children also put toys and other things from the floor or ground into their mouths. These behaviors expose children to pesticides that can affect their growing bodies.

Sources of exposure

Pesticides enter the body in three ways: through the skin, by breathing, and while eating or drinking.

Farmworkers can expose their children when they have pesticides on their skin, their clothing, or their shoes. They may track pesticides onto the floor or expose their children when they hug or hold them.

Children also can be exposed to pesticides when:  

• Breathing pesticides sprayed in the air
• Drinking contaminated water
• Eating unwashed fruits and vegetables treated with pesticides
• Touching something with pesticides
• Touching, breathing, or eating pesticides when playing in dirt or on the ground

Ways to prevent exposure

After working around pesticides, family members should avoid close contact with their children until they:

• Take work shoes off and leave the shoes in a special place near the door
• Change out of work clothes
• Take a shower — if a shower isn’t possible, wash hands, arms, and face
• Store and wash work clothes separately from other clothes in the house

Other ways to reduce pesticide exposure include:

• Helping children wash their hands. If children have been in an area where pesticides may have settled, wash their hands as soon as possible. Pesticides settle on everything that is on the floor or ground.
• Keeping children indoors when spraying is going on nearby.
• Covering toys that are outside and then washing them to get rid of pesticides that may be on them.
• Washing fruit and vegetables before eating them.
• Ensuring children drink only safe water or bottled water. Pesticides can contaminate water in irrigation canals.
• Not allowing children to play near canals or other sources of water that may have pesticides.
• Keeping indoor spaces clean. Try to keep dust and pesticide spray from coming indoors. Shut doors and windows when there is spraying. Keep a mat at the doorway to wipe off shoes.

Pesticides used at home also can be dangerous. Share this information with families about how to use and store pesticides safely:

• Keep pesticides, chemicals, and cleaners out of reach of children.
• Don’t put these chemicals in drink or food containers. It’s easy to get confused.
• Never use pesticide containers for anything else. Pesticide containers have residues for a long time. They are still dangerous even after washing them.
• Look for nontoxic products to use instead of pesticides.

Tips to share with farmworker families

• Take shoes off before coming into the house.
• Wash work clothes separately.
• Shower or wash hands, arms, and face when coming back from the fields and before touching, hugging, or holding children.
• Wash children’s and adults’ hands often.
• Wash fruit and vegetables before eating them.
• Cover toys that are outside during spraying and wash them before using them.

Resources

• Pesticides Nearby But Healthy: A Guide to Protect Children from Pesticides | Comic | Migrant Clinicians Network
• Pesticides | Migrant Clinicians Network