OTTAWA (Staff) – When Health Canada scientist Tye Arbuckle began several years ago to concentrate on studying the health of farm families, she found a gap in the information.
Farm women were hard to find.
“I found that most studies on farmer health did not include women,” she said in an interview during a Canada-United States forum on women’s health.
Yet increasingly, women are doing the same work men do on farms.
They are susceptible to the same chemical contamination, the same farm accidents and the same exposure to health risks as are men.
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But health conditions for women working and living on farms have not been well researched, since much of the data was collected from farmers identified as farm operators in the census and traditionally that has not included many women.
“We need more information about farm women and their health,” said Arbuckle, senior epidemiologist in the department’s bureau of reproductive and child health.
In at least one area – the health risks of farm chemical use – Arbuckle and her researchers are trying to correct the data gap.
She is heading a study of the chemical use on approximately 300 Ontario farms, detailing how chemicals are applied, who does it and what exposure to chemical residue is faced by the applicator and other family members.
Women considered equally
“My study is one of the first to look at farm women on an equal basis,” she said. “The impact on women must be understood, since they are doing more and more of the farm work.”
The study, in which the names of the participating farmers are kept confidential, includes on-farm visits, collection of urine samples and daily diaries kept by farm family members.
This summer, the samples and evidence are being analyzed and by autumn, results will be sent to the involved farm families.
There will be follow-up interviews and in summer 1997, the results will be made public.
“We hope the results will alert farmers, and farm women, to the dangers and the need for precautions,” said Arbuckle.
In a study on occupational health hazards prepared for the women’s health forum by American researchers, the dangers of on-farm chemical exposure were raised. It said U.S. studies have shown exposure can increase risks of reproductive problems, lung disease and various cancers for farm women.
