Rural Health Issues

Occupational Hazards

Agriculture, fisheries, logging, mining, hunting, and trapping are among the common industries found in rural areas. These industries include the most hazardous occupations for occupational morbidity and mortality. All the above industries require heavy physical labor under demanding weather and environmental conditions. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health estimates that 4.5 million people work in agriculture, of whom 23% are minorities. Although agricultural workers make up less than 3% of the U.S. total labor force, they suffer 12% of fatal workplace injuries. In addition to the higher mortality, about 500 agricultural workers experience disabling injuries daily, and 5% of these injuries result in permanent impairment.

The types of occupational hazards that result in increased morbidity and mortality include machineryrelated deaths and injuries, noise exposure leading to hearing loss, vibratory exposure leading to neurovascular degeneration of the hands, and the risk of blindness from flying objects. Respiratory irritants can result in asthma, farmer's lung, silo-filler's disease, black lung disease, asbestosis, and asphyxiation. Working with animals can result in zoonotic diseases. In the fisheries industry, there is the risk of drowning or capsizing vessels; in the mining industry, there is the risk of mine collapse. In all these industries, there is physical isolation that results in increased stress and depression.

Environmental Hazards

In addition to the above occupational exposures, there are environmental hazards as well. Rural populations face exposure to chemicals and pesticides, lack of clean drinking water, lack of hand-washing facilities and toilets, temperature extremes, and exposure to zoonotic (animal) diseases. Outside labor with more exposure to sunlight increases the risk of skin cancers.

Pesticides are known to cause a multitude of acute and chronic problems. The EPA estimates that 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used annually in the United States, 76% in agriculture. If pesticides seeped into groundwater, they could easily contaminate 90% of rural America's supply of drinking water. Some minor effects of pesticides include eye and nose irritation, fatigue, nausea, and diarrhea. Pesticides can cause human reproductive and developmental toxicity, infertility, neural tube defects, and limb reduction defects. They have also linked pesticides to neurobehavioral problems, Parkinson's disease, depression, and many types of skin problems. Chemical and pesticide exposure can increase risks of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, leukemia, prostate, and stomach and brain cancers.

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