“Tatami mat” made of rush is one of the most important farm products in Japan. The process, consisted of planting (4 week in November-December), cultivating (January-June), harvesting (3-4 week in June-July) and weaving (8-10 months in August-April), . is domestic labor and carried at all seasons. From the health point of view rush labor has brought about several problems, referred to hard physical work, heat stress and dust inhalation etc.
To determine the work load on the rush farmers, case studies on work and environmental conditions of the process were conducted, and the mesures of the health control for the farmers were scrutinized. In the present report, seasonal variation in the framework of daily life was analyzed. In harvesting process, the average time spent a day for gaining income (farm work) was estimated to be 806±43min. for males (N=9), 776±56min. for females (N=8), being longer than other process such as planting, 742±75min. for males (N=3), 661±20min. for females (N=3) and weaving, 589±68min. for males (N=3), 673±91min. for females (N=3). The working time for weaving was seemed to have a tendency of being longer for females than males. The average time for houshold duties was estimated to be 108-139min. longer for females at all seasons.
On the contrary, the average time for physical reproduction and sleeping hours was 74-6 min. It was longer for males than females. The time spent for social, and cultural activities was equal in both sexes, males and females.

Rush labor contains different types of physical works, and each work load, when classified in accordance with Christensen's criteria, was mainly classified as being moderately heavy or heavy in the planting process, and being moderately he. avy or very heavy in the harvesting process and light in the weaving process.
The average value of relative metabolic rate for working time was estimated to be 3.0±0.2 (4.74 kcal/65kg/min) for males, 2.9±0.1 (3.63 kcal/55kg/min) for females at planting. And 3.6±0.2 (5.43 kcal/65kg/min) for males, 3.8±0.1 (4.43kcal/55kg/min) for females at harvesting, 1.6±0.4 (3.12 kcal/65 kg/min) for males, 1.2±0.1 (2.11kcal/55 kg/min) for females at weaving.
The average value of energy expenditure a day was calculated to be 3619±313 kcal for males and 3023±277 kcal for females at planting, 4346±228 kcal (115% of caloric intake) for males, 3803±235 kcal (158%) for females at hervesting, 2560±221 kcal for males, 2178±86 kcal for females at weaving.

Seasonal variation of thermal conditions was investigated and it's heat stress to workers was discussed as follows.
At rush harvesting process, workers were exposed to scorching heat of the sun. In the process, the average value of WBGT-index for working hours was estimated to be 27.6°C (25.1°C-30.0°C), globe thermometer readings, 34.0°C (24.5°C-41.5°C) and Heat Stress Index, 58.7 (3.3-114.8) for males and 61.3 (-1.8-129.8) for females.
The amount of sweat in working hours was measured to be 4829±874 g for males, 4295±748g for females. And the rise in the concentration of serum protein, hemoglobin and hematocrit level was found after the work. This suggested that, although no case of heat stroke could be found, physiological functions of rush workers might be affected by hard physical work and heat stress through the process.
The workers were engaged in weaving in hot environment of 25-30°C dry-bulb thermometer from August to September in the working room. And at planting, they were in cold weather of 7-10°C in the paddy fields.

As above-mentioned, the rush cultivating process has been traditionally manual hard work. But, since 1970 progress has been made in mechanization of work procedure such as rush cutting, smearing and driing.
Comparative study on each work load with manual and machinery process was conducted four times from 1968 to 1978. The results were as follows.
The lightening of physical load was apparently seen in the some procedures. For example, from 6.7-10.0 kcal/65 kg/min in manual cutting process to 2.4-8.1 kcal/65 kg/min mechannized process. And, average value of relative metabolic rate a working day was lowered 3.6 to 3.4 for males, 3.8 to 3.5 for females.
Shortening of working hours in a day and decrease of energy expenditure was seen for both sexes. But this tendency was not so impressive in females as in males, because these machines were mainly operated by males and so other additional works, not yet mechanized such as rush bundling and transportation, was likely taken by females.
Hours of work per 10 a was decreased by 34% during 10 years, 1968-1978. But yet, personal work load and/or per household were not rather decreased by such mechanization.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to clarify the actual states of pesticide poisoning (disorders) and its related factors amang 178 male and 232 female farmers.
The results were as follows.
1) Of the subjects 30.7% complained of some health disturbance from pesticides, without significant difference in prevalence between males and females.
2) The most comman symptom was skin hazard (39.7%), followed by nausea (34.9%) and headache (32.5%).
3) Captafol (21.4%) and methomyl (12.7%), which are contained in common pesticides, were recognized as the cause of poisoning.
4) The highest prevalence of health disturbance from pesticides were seen in [orange only] growers (72.7%) among mixed crop groups, followed by [rice+ orange] producers (71.4%), and [rice+ sugar cane +sweet potato] cultivators (55.9%). These higher prevalence groups were also estimated to be the users of the higher amount of pesticide.
5) Significant coefficient correlations were seen between the prevalence of health disturbance from pesticides and the duration and yearly times of pesticide spraying and daily spraying hours.
6) A relatively larger proportion of farmers has a knowledge about pesticide poisonig. However a few of them take effective protective measures at pesticide handling.
The reverse correlation was seen between the prevalence of health disturbance from pesticides and the degree of reliance on effectiveness of pesticides.
The present study indicates that more effective education for safty use of pesticides to both producers and users, and development of non-pesticide use agriculture are essential to protect agricultural workers from health distubance from pesticides.

In order to clarify the actual conditions and mechanism of contact dermatitis from pesticides, a field survey including patch testing with 11 pesticides and formaldehyde was carried out on 111 subjects who engaged in farming in the plastic greenhouse mainly. The relationship between skin sensitization due to pesticides and conditions of pesticide exposure was also studied. The results were as follows;
1) About half of subjects (52%) have been suffered from health hazards due to pesticides. Among the symptoms complained, dermatitis was most frequent (32%) as compared with acute poisoning such as headache (12%), general fatigue (9 %) and so on. The causative pesticides of those dermatitis were mainly Difolatan (72%), Daconil (8 %), and Gramoxone (8%).
2) Relatively higher rates of positive reaction of patch testing were observed in Difolatan (43%) in male, and Difolatan (25%), Topsin M (24%), Rovral (24%) in female. A positive reaction with more than one substance tested were seen in 31 males (55%) and 31 females (55%).
3) Among 11 kinds of pesticides tested, positive correlations between the skin reaction of patch testing and the use of corresponding pesticides were found only in Orthocide (r = 0.233) and Daconil (0.203).
4) From the Cluster Analysis, 16 kinds of using pesticides were classified into 3 clusters with similarity to patch test reactions. It was also suggested from the Dendrogram that there might be cross reactions among patch testing pesticides.
5) By Multiple Regression Analysis, no factor which contributed remarkably to skin sensitization was clarified. And, it was suggested that many kinds of factor were complicatedly related to skin sensitization.

The residue levels of three kinds of organochlorines, BHC, DDT and PCB, in the serum were determined in farmers (40-59 years old, n=211), non-farmars (40-59 years old, n =27) and high school students (15-18 years old, n=56) to clarify the factors that contributed to the accumulation of those three compounds in the blood of farmers and rural inhabitants. The average values of those compounds were found to be 9.1±5.0 ppb for B-BHC, 9.2±6.3 ppb for pp'-DDE and 7.1 ±5.7 ppb for PCB. There was marked difference in the value between districts in which the subjects live. The subjects could be divided into the lower concentration group and higher concentration group, showing high discrimination ratio (72-83%) by Hayashi's quantification theory II. Statistical analysis showed that the factors contributing to the accumnlation of those compounds in the present subjects are related with digestion of chicken and fish, Hb concentration, serum cholinesterase activity, liver function and serum trigliceride and cholesterol levels, and use of organochlorines and other pesticides, duration and the mumber of days of pesticide spraying, experience of pesticide poisoing, cultivation of specific crops. Those results, in greater part, supported the general recognition that organochlorine residues in human body might be regulated by changning eating patterns and avoiding those food items containing those chemical compounds. On the other hand, attention should be focused on the exposure of those compounds through the use of specific pesticides including those compounds. And further investigation is necessary for clarifying the contributing factors to the accumulation of those compounds in human body especially in the higher residue group discriminated in the present study.

In the farm household of “vegetable planting by plastic green house”, “mandarin orange”, “rush (igusa)”, “dairy-farming” and “silk worm”, measurement of energy expenditure in agricultural work and analysis of daily working hours were conducted at the busy season of each crops. The results are as follows:
The energy consumption per day are estimated respectively to be 3300 Cal for male and 2900 Cal for female in the household of the “plastic green house”; 3500 and 2500 Cal in the “mandarin orange”, 3800 and 3600 Cal in the “rush”, 3300 and 2700 Cal in the “dairy-farming”, 3400 and 2700 Cal in the “silk worm”.
The agricultural machines and tools are mainly operated by male and so attached muscular works not yet machanized are carried by female. And management of animals or crops specially required prudent care have a tendency to be also carried by female. Then the average relative metabolic rate (RMR) a working day is relatively higher in female than male, except “mandarin orange”.
In the “rush harvesting” and “dairy-farming”, having the most development of the agricultural mechanization it seems obviousely to be rising the labor efficiency, but because of expansion of management scale and decreasing number of employee the reduction of work load for a worker is not necessory obvious.

A field study on the hourly working pattern, energy expenditure, air conditions and the testing for fatigue of the process of the raising silk worms for 4 days in August, the period of early autumn raising. Three couples of the typical raising silk worms households in Kikuchi district in Kumamoto Pref. were selected for the study. The results were as follows.
1. In Kikuchi district, there were 5-10 raising periods in a year from april to november for each households and the yearly working days for the process were to be 160-260 days.
In the period of early autumn raising, the average working times and energy expenditure a day were calculated to be 374±136 min. and 2891±277 kcal for males and 383±119 min. and 2494±91 kcal for females in the third state of period (after 5 days of accepting the larva); and in the fifth state of the process (after 10 days of the former state) 644±112 min. and 3087±136 kcal for males, 618±65 min. 2851±48 kcal for females; in the state of the spinning cocoons, 944±238 min. and 3735±459 kcal for males, 846±271 min. and 3209±754 kcal for females; in the state of the controlling cocoons, 560±115 min. and 2944±233 kcal for males, 478±68 min. and 2537±101 kcal for females. In the spinning state it was the highest work loads to be taken for both males and females through one raising period.
2. The RMR (relative metabolic rates) values of each elemental work were measured to be 0.6-3.7 (0.0322-0.0995 kcal/kg/min). The average RMR in a working time was 2.2±0.3 (1.7-2.9) for males and 2.1±0.3 (1.4-2.5) for females, and in the spinning state higher average value was observed for females than for males.
3. There was some difference between males and females in the distribution of working posture. For males 30.8%(9.5-46.2%) of all working times was the standing position, but in the contrally, for females, 66.0%(64.0-69.8%) was the half sitting position and only 11.0% was the standing position.
4. The considerable reduction of flicker frequency was observed at the end of working a day in each state of the period especially in the spinning state, and the increasing of complaints of fatigue symptoms was also observed.

Mass health survey was conducted to discuss the relationship between obesity and some factors of agricultural managements and living and working conditions among 349 pairs of housewives and their husbands selected from the rural communities in Kumamoto prefecture.
The prevalence rates of obesity (20% over of the Minowa's standard weights) were 13.1% for housewives of farmers, 13.7% for their husbands and 15.6 % for housewives of non-farmers, 9.2% for their husbands. The significant correlationship was found in the degree of obesity by Minowa's standard between housewives and their husbands (r= 0.1566, P<0.05).
Being compared the prevalence of obesity according with the kinds of each household's producting crops, peoples of the household of “shiitake: cortinellus shiitake”, “vegetables by plastic greenhouse”, “tabacco” and “animal husbandary ” were more likely to be obese and, inversely, those of “barley”, “vegetables in upland” and “sericulture” were less, than those of “rice”, “mandarin orange” and “forestry”. In the household of “vegetables by plastic greenhouse”, “rice”, “barley”, “mandarin orange” and “vegetables in upland” husbands were more obese than housewives and, inversely, in the household of “shiitake” and “forestry” housewives were more obese than husbands.
Peoples of fishing households were less likely to be obese than those of the farm households and/or other profession. Among the households of non-farmers it was noteworthy that higher prevalence rates of obesity were found in housewives than husbands, being inverse finding in the farmers case.
The results suggested that the agricultural management and it's labor conditions, as well as the level of agricultural economics, might strongly affect the occurrence of obesity in the Japanese rural community.