Threat of Pesticides to Infants' Health and Safety: Pesticides are chemicals that have successfully been used in agricultural production to restrain pests on different crops such as vegetables, cereal grains, fruits, and nuts. As a result, they have become a standard part of most farming operations to an extent that they have contributed to an increase of farm productivity to 82% in the past three decades. However, did you know that pesticides pose a serious threat to the health and safety of infants? How? Because infants can routinely come into contact with these chemicals with inherent toxicity since most of their common surroundings are usually touched by these chemicals.

The purpose of this pamphlet is to examine the threats posed by this environmental factor i.e. pesticides on the health and safety of infants. This evaluation is based on the increased or widespread use of these chemicals even in areas where infants can easily come into contact with them. The pamphlet provides an analysis of health effects associated with pesticide exposure based on how the young are vulnerable to health effects of these chemicals.

Resources Available: There are various resources available to help parents and caregivers of infants understand the serious health effects posed by pesticide exposure to the young. These resources include community resources, national resources, and Web-based resources.

Community Resource #1: The first community resource towards lessening infants' health effects from increased use of pesticides is Parents for Pesticide Alternatives (PPA). This is a non-profit organization formed by several concerned patients in Georgia to increase the availability of organic foods (Mott et. al., 1997). The organization is headed by Phyllis Marburger of Snellville, Georgia in 2678 Colony Cir and can be contacted through 30078-2773.

Community Resource #2: The other community resource for this environmental factor is the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. This program is an initiative towards controlling pests that is heavily dependent on evaluating the existence of pest problems and the required level of infestation mitigation. The approach does not involve applying these chemicals on a weekly or monthly basis but it involves identifying whether treatment is necessary and then looking for the least toxic control method. The contact information for IPM program can be found in schools that have embraced such programs.

National Resource: An example of a national resource is the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is America's most effective environmental action group with grassroots force of approximately 1.4 million members and online activists. The organization has several major priorities including protecting people's health through preventing pollution. NRDC is headquartered in New York City and can be contacted through its website, ephone [HIDDEN], and its offices in other parts of the country.

Web-based Resource: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN) is a Web-based resource published by the American Nurses Association. This resource plays a major role in understanding, preventing, and mitigating the health effects of pesticide exposure on infants by producing publications that deal with current topics that affect the wider health care sector. OJIN, which is located in Olmsted Township, Ohio, can be contacted through [HIDDEN] or through their website.

Problem Description: Products that are designed to prevent, kill, thwart, or lessen any pest are referred to as pesticides (Del & Davis, 2007). These chemicals are also used in homes, hospitals, schools, office buildings, and parks to stop unwanted organisms. As the use of these products has increased in the recent past, they have also become a major health threat to infants and children. Their health threats on infants are attributed to their increase in the common surroundings of infants and children. Consequently, infants and children are vulnerable to a series of health effects because of the widespread use and inherent toxicity of pesticides. Some of the major health effects posed by pesticides to infants include leukemia, brain tumors, damage to the nervous system, immune system effects, change of color, and sarcomas, lymphomas and Wilms' tumors. The sources of exposure are indoor air and surfaces, schools, pets, household dust and soil/drift, playgrounds, and food.

Therefore, parents and caregivers of infants should take necessary measures to lessen pesticide exposure and its associated...

The goal of this pamphlet is to highlight how the environmental factor poses a threat to infants' health and safety, the need for appropriate intervention measures, available community resources, and provide suggestions on accident prevention and safety promotion related to pesticide exposure.