A Case of Pesticide Illness

by Susan Love

We have all heard stories of people's lives changing abruptly when something unexpected happens that changes their life forever. My life changing event started in 2004. One morning I started driving to an appointment 30 miles away. I was feeling weak and had difficulty getting ready, but I had experienced these symptoms many times before. I didn't think much about it at the time.

The struggle to drive became more and more difficult with each mile. I could hardly stay awake so I focused intently on my driving. I could tell something horrible was happening to me, but I didn't know what. The drive home was also very difficult.

Symptoms progressed over the next few days, so I called poison control. I started to put the pieces together. I lived between a large almond orchard and rice fields that extend a continuous 9 miles to the south of my residence, and I thought I could have been exposed to pesticides. Poison control asked me if I had seen a doctor, so I went to the emergency room. I dreaded going because I had been there so many times in the past. This time I explained that I thought that I had been exposed to pesticides, but I don't think I was taken seriously, or it may just have been that they didn't quite know how to diagnosis and provide treatment.

According to the physicians I have seen, they have not been given training on diagnosing pesticide exposure and the adverse health effects associated with these exposures. Long-term health studies have not been done to determine the long-term health effects of pesticide exposures.

Products mixes also have not been studied. There are numerous chemicals used today that can cause health problems, and we are not adequately protected from the possibility of being exposed in our daily lives.

I spent the first twenty years of my life on our family's farm in Butte County and then, after about a twenty year absence, I returned. I started developing symptoms that can be pesticide related. The symptoms developed, subsided and then returned again. Sometimes the symptoms would not be extreme enough to make me feel I needed to see a physician, and other times I felt I needed to go to the emergency room. It wasn't until sometime in 2003 that I started thinking that many of my symptoms could be related to pesticides. Being that I had always been a very active, athletic and hardworking person, I spent hours researching possibilities for my reoccurring illnesses. Pesticides became my main focus of study.

When I felt I was exposed in June, my symptoms were very extreme and progressed over the next two weeks. My symptoms included muscle and joint aches, weakness, irritability, nausea, blurred vision, throbbing around my thyroid area, sore throat, loss of appetite, difficulty opening my mouth, twitching and tingling in my extremities and thirst. These symptoms worsened to the point of anxiety. My thoughts were "foggy" and my memory was impaired. I had pain in my liver and right kidney area. My left kidney was removed in 1990 due to the formation of cysts. All of these symptoms can be pesticide related. I still live with the long-term effects. I moved from the family farm in late 2005 and still live with the irreversible, long-term effects. I have experienced improvement since moving, but the progress seems slow when one wants to be an active participant in life.

Records of pesticide use in Butte County is available on the Department of Pesticide Regulation from 1990 to 2008. I was exposed to pesticides from birth and possibly prior to birth. This gives me about 35 years of exposure in Butte County. Sometimes that flu you think you might have could be pesticide related if you have an exposure. Toxins can build up the in the body over time and contribute to poor health.

Some pesticide products have a smell that can help determine if you are breathing the chemicals, but I seldom smelled anything. For more information on symptoms and pesticides, you can refer to the book published by EPA, Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings.

A study done in three other areas of California indicated that the peak ozone season for pesticide volatile organic compound emissions are between May 1 and October 30. I completed a study of my emergency room visits and times of disability and then compared it to peak spraying times in my area. I found a positive association between pesticide applications and my personal illness and periods of disability.

In 2008, Butte County used 2,481,130 pounds of pesticide active ingredients, and ranked number 16 for its use of pesticides among California counties in that year. Pesticide active ingredients for the entire state of California listed in the report as 161,531,155 pounds. See this.

Concern for the environment seems to have become a greater public concern over the last few years. More studies are being done with regards to air and water quality, conservation is being put into practice, and sustainable alternatives in farming are becoming more important to our means of healthily producing food.

From the Summer 2010 issue of the Environmental News.