Children's safety on American Indian farms: information and recommendations

It is estimated that 1.2 million youth younger than age 20 live on farms; American Indian children constitute an important but understudied subset of this at-risk group. Despite documented risks of injuries and death among children who live and work on farms and a descending trend in the overall reported fatalities among youth who live and/or work on farms, very little is known about the agriculture-related injury and fatality experience of American Indian youth. Limited data indicate that drowning, motor vehicles, and poisonings are leading causes of unintentional mortality and morbidity for this group, although the attribution to agricultural exposure is not evident. The scant available data indicate a need to look more closely at agricultural work, bystander exposures, and other farm events that put American Indian youth at risk of illness, injury, or death compared to factors more fully reported for majority youth in the agriculture population, in order to guide intervention and prevention programs that are appropriate and acceptable to this vulnerable population.