Follow-up of a group of women working in floriculture on the Sabana de Bogotá

Abstract

The present document is a descriptive study of women found working in floriculture on the Sabana de Bogotá (the flat plain surrounding Bogotá), who had been studied by the lnstituto Nacional de Salud's Environmental Sanitation group for 20 years. New information has been obtained about the women, the said population's general characteristics are described, the similarity between the population encountered and not encountered was determined and the frequency and type of cancer which develops in women was established. The study covered 1,218 (23.1%) women from the total of women studied in the initial cohort, with an average of 44.5 years of age and an average of 15 years working full-time in flower growing, the activity which occupies the greatest number of people in this area, the women having been identified as being at very high risk of exposure to pesticides. Significant statistical differences were found in some variables when comparing the population of women encountered with that of the women not encountered. The levels of cancer found in the sample, are much lower than those reported by the Population Cancer Register (Registro Poblacional de Cáncer) in Cali; the proporiion of pesticides used in this activity is high and extremely toxic.