I’m in Texas and am around construction. The Mexican dudes can go all day with very little water. They tease my for my hydration and I’m not working half as hard as them. Then I see the urine they leave behind (usually left in drink bottles) and it makes my kidneys hurt.

Also if I don’t hydrate enough in this heat abd am really working then my kidneys literally hurt. It’s my reminder to stop and take a drink. I’ve been working outside a lot this summer and notice it’s much easier to get to that point when it’s over 105F. This summer has been a hot one even for Texas.

Anyways, there’s a cultural machismo amongst the Hispanic laborers that hydration is for putos. They do this with gloves too. I’ll offer gloves when handling materials and they always laugh and say no. Like their calluses hands are their resume. I have soft doctor like hands with no calluses so I do nothing without gloves.

Can’t help that the state government is actively undermining local protections for workers dealing with heat dangers

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/16/texas-heat-wave-wate...

https://archive.ph/h66Jg

p_wall byp_ss link: https://archive.ph/h66Jg

I am not sure whether any recent restrictions against this site here.

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> I wasn't able to beat the bot wall

Most people have access to at least one 16-digit code that will do the trick.

We should be seeing it all over America in that case.

> This meant that, instead of breaking down rapidly, glyphosate was able to persist in the environment for up to seven years in water and twenty-two years in soil.

Bulllshiiiitttt. There are no reputable studies that show anything like this.

Hard to imagine a diet of cultural significance that would put people into lifelong dialysis, at an epidemic scale.

I appreciate the attempt to be gender neutral, but it turns out that Latinos themselves generally do not prefer the term Latinx.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx

For your explanation to be correct, you'd have to explain why this doesn't affect field workers of other genetic background all around the world.

I feel like this is the medical equivalent of saying "I can't believe these guys didn't try turning it off and on again".

Like, "maybe the people whose job is to consider the cause and spread of disease never considered diet and hydration!"

What's the popular food that contains lots of oxalates? I don't see anyone binging on sorrel or star fruit or parsley.

Please do not refer to us as "latinx". That's disgusting.

>latinx

Is the LatinX the new release after the Latin8?

> A disease which targets latinx? seems more likely its field workers, inadequate hydration and bad fluid hygene overall.

"has arrived"

Did working condition worsen over time? if yes, then maybe

If not, then COVID proved that we are past the idea of a theoretical biowar, it is already happening

I assume that they do not have regular access to medical care, especially if they are immigrant workers.

Anecdotally, I have chronic kidney disease that would not have shown up on routine bloodwork / urinalysis. Only after multiple acute episodes did I get a biopsy for a diagnosis, and even that took a year of bouncing between specialists in a big city with good healthcare.

I get doing a blood panel once a year or so if you are not scraping by but never heard of doing a urine test without indication.

It’s mentioned in the article it’s been documented in Central America for more than ten years in manual laborers but with few clues - possibly genetic predisposition combined with heat and physical exertion. It’s different types of manual labor so toxin exposure seems unlikely unless it turns out all of them got poisoned doing the same type of manual labor at one point and I would speculate they would have figured it out by now in Central America if it was toxin exposure.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/26/7538343...

OSHA has a proposed heat injury prevention rule that would make 80F (heat index) and 90F (optionally 95F, heat index) as initial and high heat trigger temperatures.

With the initial heat temperature, workers would need to be provided water and a break area that's shaded or air conditioned (it can also have a fan but employers must evaluate that the fan is used at the appropriate temperature and humidity and not cooking or dehydrating people). Interestingly the CDC warns not to use fans above 90F, which is much lower than the ~102F limit OSHA suggests. [1][2][3]

With high heat temperature, 15 minute breaks in the cooling area are required every 2 hours along with some buddy system/monitoring requirements. [4]

The notice of proposed rulemaking has a wealth of interesting study citations for risks (including kidney health issues) and risk reduction but it's a lot to even skim through.

I think a systematic review they cited suggested "hats; loose fitting, light/brightly colored/reflective, breathable, clothing; ventilation patches in PPE" for optimal clothing. But I do wonder if optimal clothing might vary based on temperature and humidity.

As a Louisianian, I don't know how the roofers do it. Sometimes it's so hot and humid it's rough to breathe outside just standing doing nothing.

[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-14824/p-2907

[2] https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-14824/p-596

[3] https://www.cdc.gov/heat-health/about/index.html

[4] https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2024-14824/p-2932

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Check the references. They’re weak, almost ouroboric.

I found this: (2010) Positive association of renal insufficiency with agriculture employment and unregulated alcohol consumption in Nicaragua

https://doi.org/10.3109/0886022X.2010.494333

Essentially moonshine consumption.

Interestingly drinking more water was associated with worse outcomes. I would hesitate to point to dehydration without evidence, as a harmful remedy is worse than doing nothing.

Moonshine consumption could probably be investigated further as it carries explanatory power.

I hope not, as every pesticide spray I know cannot be used near harvest time.

What are you even talking about?