Environmental and Behavioral Predictors of Salivary Cotinine in Latino Tobacco Workers
Author: Quandt, Sara A.
Date Published: 2001
Research from tobacco-producing regions throughout the world reports that workers participating in hand labor in tobacco fields experience a syndrome called green tobacco sickness (GTS). GTS is characterized by nausea, vomiting, headache, and dizziness in workers exposed to tobacco. Although GTS is normally self-limiting, it can result in dehydration requiring hospitalization, and seizures have been reported. As tobacco cultivation shifts from small plots worked by family members to large holdings worked by migrant and seasonal farmworkers or to overseas production, the burden of GTS shifts. Factors reported in the literature to increase the likelihood of GTS include working in wet tobacco, performing work tasks that result in body contact with the plants, and younger age. Protective factors reported include the use of protective clothing and tobacco use (smoking and smokeless). The cause of this occupational illness has been attributed to nicotine poisoning resulting from transdermal absorption of nicotine from the leaves of the mature tobacco plant. However, there have been no studies to verify the absorption of nicotine resulting from tobacco work, to document levels of absorption, or to explore risk factors for such absorption. This investigation reports the results of a cohort study of Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers engaged in flue-cured tobacco production over the course of one summer in North Carolina. Salivary cotinine was used as a measure of nicotine exposure. The objectives were to (1) describe the salivary cotinine levels of workers across the season; and (2) identify behavioral and environmental factors that regulate the level of salivary cotinine in workers, with particular attention to the combination of the degree of smoking and the type of tobacco work performed.
Date Published: 2001
Research from tobacco-producing regions throughout the world reports that workers participating in hand labor in tobacco fields experience a syndrome called green tobacco sickness (GTS). GTS is characterized by nausea, vomiting, headache, and dizziness in workers exposed to tobacco. Although GTS is normally self-limiting, it can result in dehydration requiring hospitalization, and seizures have been reported. As tobacco cultivation shifts from small plots worked by family members to large holdings worked by migrant and seasonal farmworkers or to overseas production, the burden of GTS shifts. Factors reported in the literature to increase the likelihood of GTS include working in wet tobacco, performing work tasks that result in body contact with the plants, and younger age. Protective factors reported include the use of protective clothing and tobacco use (smoking and smokeless). The cause of this occupational illness has been attributed to nicotine poisoning resulting from transdermal absorption of nicotine from the leaves of the mature tobacco plant. However, there have been no studies to verify the absorption of nicotine resulting from tobacco work, to document levels of absorption, or to explore risk factors for such absorption. This investigation reports the results of a cohort study of Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers engaged in flue-cured tobacco production over the course of one summer in North Carolina. Salivary cotinine was used as a measure of nicotine exposure. The objectives were to (1) describe the salivary cotinine levels of workers across the season; and (2) identify behavioral and environmental factors that regulate the level of salivary cotinine in workers, with particular attention to the combination of the degree of smoking and the type of tobacco work performed.
