Environmental risks: dealing with the known and the unknown.

of Public Health highlights two special papers addressing environmental exposures along the border shared by Mexico and the United States of America. In one paper, Bass et al. (1) examine the use and storage of pesticides in households with young children in Douglas, a small Arizona border community; these pesticide practices reflect the risks as perceived by the Douglas residents. In the second paper, Byrd et al. (2) examine differing attitudes and beliefs about environmental hazards in three communities in and near the city of El Paso, Texas. The three El Paso communities vary in terms of income and density (urban vs. rural). Two of the three communities have predominantly Hispanic populations. Together, these two papers present an important contrast between the risks that individuals willingly take on in their own homes as compared to risks that people believe should be tolerated in the community. People are exposed to pesticides through many pathways, in multiple locations each day. Bass et al. minimize these competing exposures by examining pesticide use and storage in a nonagricultural community, where most of the exposure is expected to occur within the home. Household pesticide use in the United States is reported as being in the range of 85% to 90% nationwide (3). According to Bass et al., the households in Douglas, Arizona, had lower than expected use (~70%) and an average of only 1.4 pesticide products found per home. By contrast, results from a Minnesota survey indicated pesticide was found in 97% of the sampled residences, with an average of 6.0 pesticide products per home (4). Insecticides were the dominant use-class reported in both the Minnesota and the Douglas, Arizona, studies. While repellent (e.g., DEET) was used commonly in Minnesota, its use is unreported in Douglas, Arizona. This difference may be due to aridity and reduced numbers of mosquitoes and biting flies in Douglas. However, the Mexico-United States border region is profoundly varied. Some parts have more standing water and numerous pests. These regions may require greater personal pesticide use and may reflect product inventories like those found in Minnesota. Other regions have less need, like Douglas. The pesticide survey in Douglas is the first published account to evaluate cross-border pesticide transfer, with 7% of the pesticides coming from Mexico. As research on pesticide use continues in the Mexico-United States border region, assessing the variability in product purchases will be of interest. There are broad …