PESTICIDE DRIFT, RESIDENTS AND WORKERS

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PESTICIDE DRIFT, RESIDENTS AND WORKERS

How safe is the use of agricultural pesticides for rural communities and farm labourers? A recently published report aims to shed some light on this topic.

(PHOTO: aerial spraying of forestry)

The study: Acute Pesticide Illnesses Associated with Off-Target Pesticide Drift from Agricultural Applications: 11 States, 1998-2006, was published in the August 2011 edition of peer reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

It is the first comprehensive report of drift-related pesticide poisoning - that's “the off-target movement of pesticides” - in the United States.

The authors' (Lee et al 2011) aim was make the use of pesticides safer: “Better understanding about the magnitude, trend, and characteristics of pesticide poisoning from drift exposure of agricultural pesticides would assist regulatory authorities with regulatory, enforcement, and education efforts”

Many factors are at play when considering pesticide drift: the nature of the pesticide (e.g. fumigants are highly volatile, increasing their propensity for off-site movement); equipment and application techniques (e.g. size and height of the spray nozzles); the amount of pesticides applied, weather

(e.g., wind speed, temperature inversion), and operator care.

From 1998 through 2006, the researchers identified 643 events and 2,945 illness cases associated with pesticide drift from agricultural applications. Of these cases, 66% were exposed to category 1, or highly toxic, pesticides. Despite the high toxicity levels, 92% of cases involved low-severity illness.

The aforementioned volatility of fumigants meant that, while only 8% of drift events involved fumigants, they were involved in the largest percentage of cases, at 45%. However compared with fumigants, exposures to herbicides, insecticides, or multiple classes were significantly associated with moderate/high illness.

Just over half of the cases were nonoccupational. This means that they were not on the farm directly but in the locale. Residents in agriculture-intensive regions have a 69 times higher risk of pesticide poisoning from drift exposure compared with other regions. Common exposure locations were private residences at 44%, which was the most common. Moderate/high severity illness was significantly associated with females, older age groups, and exposure to multiple active ingredients. Among nonoccupational cases, children under 15 years of age accounted for 33% of cases with known age, and showed the highest rate.

The details of how the pesticide drift actually occurs is very revealing. Often we hear that if used according to the instructors guidelines, pesticides are safe. However, in the real world of examining actual cases of pesticide drift, a very clear picture emerges from the fog, as it were.

48% of all cases, where adequate information on the drift violation itself was available, found operator carelessness to be the cause. To quote directly; “Common contributing factors identified for drift events included applicators’ carelessness near/over non-target sites (e.g., flew over a house, did not turn off a nozzle at the end of the row), unfavorable weather conditions (e.g., high wind speed, temperature inversion), and poor communication between applicators/growers and others. Improper seal of the fumigation site (e.g., tarp tear, early removal of seal)....accounted for the largest proportion (60%) of cases with contributing factors identified.”

The largest number of nonoccupational cases happened between .25 and .5 of a mile (35.2%) away from site of application: however even at over 1 mile, the category with the furthest distance for nonoccupational cases, 15.2% of cases occurred.

The rate of poisoning from pesticide drift was 69 times higher for residents in five agriculture-intensive California counties compared with other counties, and the rate of occupationally exposed cases was 145 times greater in agricultural workers than in nonagricultural workers.

The unfortunate thing is, of course, that much of this need not happen: “These poisonings may largely be preventable through proper prevention measures and compliance with pesticide regulations” according to the authors.

There are, as always limitations to these findings. However, this time most of these limitations provide cold comfort: “our findings likely underestimate the actual magnitude of drift events and cases” state the authors, who go on to explain the ways in which underestimation occurs, such as underreporting or misdiagnoses.

There is only so much 'transferability' of this kind of research to other countries. One thing is clear, however: operator care is crucial in handling pesticides.

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