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[Symptom prevalence and pesticide management on agricultural workers]
Pedro Cortés-Genchi1, Ascencio Villegas-Arrizón, Guadalupe Aguilar-Madrid
1Unidad Académica de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Mexico.
Introduction:
Mexico is a main importers of pesticides in Latin America.
Objective:
to describe pesticide symptoms prevalence, use, and management in a group of agricultural workers.
Methods:
we carried out a transversal study in 303 agricultural workers laboring in vegetables, grains and flowers fields. We investigated the work history, pesticide management, and pesticide use frequency, as well as exposure-associated symptoms.
Results:
mean age was 46 years; 19.5 % of workers were illiterate, and mean pesticide use was 15 years. With regard to pesticide application, 17.2 % of laborers worked with pesticides from 11:00 a. m. to 3:00 p. m., and 36.4 % of them applied pesticides for > 2 h; 29.7 % applied pesticides against the wind, while 26.4 % applied these with the wind. After applying the pesticides, 37.4 % of them bathed after 3 h, 34.5 % changed clothes, and 18.8 % returned to cultivation some hours later; 23 % of workers presented some symptom, the most frequent being headache, itchiness, numbness, and perception of burning on skin; this latter proportion was greater in the < or = 46 years old group
Conclusions:
symptom prevalence is in agreement with inappropriate pesticide management; nonetheless, we found no statistically significant association. Our results are lower than other studies, possibly due to lesser exposure, determined by toxicity, pesticide amount utilized, and use and management of chemicals.
