"An Illness Strikes at Big Tobacco Farms"

"The shift from small family-owned tobacco farms to larger operations dependent on migrant labor is causing an increase in green tobacco sickness, a form of nicotine poison caused by contact with wet plants, according to a study in last month's issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

In the article, Dr. Sara A. Quandt, an epidemiologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said that 41 percent of the farm workers she surveyed -- most migrant Mexican workers -- reported having green tobacco sickness at least once a summer. The disease is characterized by headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness.

Only 9 percent of the workers sought medical care, she said, because they feared losing their jobs if they missed a day in the field or worked too slowly.

Dr. Quandt said the principal cause of the increase appeared to be greater exposure levels for migrant workers than for the family members or hired hands who used to tend smaller amounts of crops on smaller farms. Another factor is a shift toward planting rows of tobacco plants more closely together to increase yield."

From: NY Times, March 7, 2000. By John O'Neil.

Questions

Why would wet plants be more dangerous than dry plants?

In terms of the Autonomic Nervous System, where are nicotinic receptors found?

Explain how nicotine poisoning would cause "headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness."

ANS Links

Nausea and Vomiting

Autonomic Dysreflexia

Autonomic Dysreflexia 2

Autonomic Hyperreflexia

Compare with Shy-Drager Syndrome

Dizziness and Autonomic Dysfunction: Case History