Workers exposed to pesticides and herbicides on the job may be more likely than other people to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis and other breathing problems, an Australian study suggests.
With any herbicide exposure at work, people were more than twice as likely to develop COPD by middle age and workplace pesticide exposure was associated with 74 percent higher odds of the common lung disease, researchers report in Thorax.
Over a lifetime, pesticides and herbicides may pose an even bigger added risk for breathing disorders, the study also found.
Each 10-year increase in occupational exposure to pesticides carried a 12 percent increased risk of COPD and a 16 percent higher risk of developing chronic bronchitis. Every extra decade of herbicide exposure, meanwhile, carried a 22 percent increased risk of bronchitis, while each 10 years of insecticide exposure was associated with 15 percent higher odds of bronchitis.
To read the full original article, please click here.
