Agricultural workers provide the food we eat but often face a unique combination of occupational health concerns including increasing incidence of unexplained chronic kidney disease, or chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu).
With evidence from a recent Ag Health Study (AHS) in the U.S. directly linking kidney disease to pesticide exposure along with further concern that heat stress may exacerbate the effects of pesticide exposure on kidneys, the study of chronic kidney disease in farmworkers is emerging as a high priority. In this episode, hear from Dr. Chris Vulpe, professor and molecular toxicologist in the Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology at the University of Florida. Dr. Vulpe discusses the interaction between heat stress and pesticide exposure which can lead to kidney damage, and just why this disease has been considered a ‘medical mystery.’
Resources:
SCCAHS Research Project Webpage
Dr. Chris Vulpe Lab Website
Transcripts available here: https://piecenter.com/media/podcast/#transcript
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Music “Glacier” by SalmonLikeTheFish Available at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/SalmonLikeTheFish/Music_for_the_Sleepy_Traveler/03_-_Glacier/ Under CC BY license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
The views, information, or opinions expressed by guest speakers on Science by the Slice are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily represent those of the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education or the University of Florida.