Time to pregnancy among female greenhouse workers

Time to pregnancy among the wives of Finnish greenhouse workers

“…Our findings, adjusted for male exposure, suggest that heavy female exposure, characterized by the women spraying pesticides, may be associated with reduced fertility. The finding is in accordance with that of a recent Danish study (23) in which female flower greenhouse workers handling treated cultures, spraying pesticides, and working without gloves had reduced fecundability.…”

Time to pregnancy among female greenhouse workers

“…Abell et al (21) found a fecundability ratio comparable with ours for the most recent pregnancies among workers in flower greenhouses versus other union workers in Denmark (FR 1.1, 95% CI 0.9-1.4). They also reported fecundability ratios in the same range for first pregnancies only (data not given), which is in contrast to our results.…”

“…Despite this exposure, few data on humans are available regarding fertility among female greenhouse workers (21,22). Abell et al (21) did not observe a reduced overall fecundability among Danish women working in flower greenhouses, but spraying of pesticides and frequent manual contact with plants without gloves were associated with prolonged time to pregnancy (21). In Colombia, prolonged time to pregnancy was observed for women working in flower production companies where pesticides are frequently used (22).…”

“…Usually, they are not directly exposed to pesticides but, instead, are indirectly exposed through re-entry (eg, while gathering or bunching flowers) or through take-home exposure by their husbands. Despite this exposure, few data on humans are available regarding fertility among female greenhouse workers (21,22). Abell et al (21) did not observe a reduced overall fecundability among Danish women working in flower greenhouses, but spraying of pesticides and frequent manual contact with plants without gloves were associated with prolonged time to pregnancy (21).…”

“…Although many animal studies have been performed on the reproductive toxicity of pesticides (1,(3)(4)(5)(6) and pregnancy outcome has been evaluated in several human studies (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), effects on human fertility have only recently been considered (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). For many pesticides, no information is available, and the majority of epidemiologic studies to date pertain to pesticides that are no longer used.…”