There is also circumstantial evidence on the association of exposure to pesticides with chronic diseases like respiratory problems, dermal disorders, cardiovascular disease, nephropathies, chronic fatigue syndrome and aging [1]. Since health-workers are not adequately trained to identify adverse effects of pesticides [22,23] and because of the Abstract Background: The aim of the present study was to assess whether long-term exposure to pesticides is associated with adverse health effects in professional pesticide sprayers. Methods:The study was conducted in Lake Eyasi Basin and Ngarenanyuki in Arusha region, during the dry season in September-October 2013. In a cross-sectional study, 97 short-term exposed men with at most three months as professional sprayers were compared with 60 long-term exposed men with experience of at least five years as professional sprayers. The study participants were aged 18-30 years, drawn from the same source population and interviewed using semi structured questionnaire. The questions focused on spraying procedures and on present and recurrent medical history including presence of selected six known pesticide induced health conditions. Results:Organophosphates, carbamates, dithiocarbamates and pyrethroids were the most applied insecticides but also organochlorine fungicides and endosulfan were frequently applied. The majority of the sprayers reported unsafe pesticide use. Mean pesticide uses in litres, spray frequency per crop and per week were 637, and 1.3 respectively for about 270 days a year. Respiratory disease symptoms were the most frequently reported (46/157; 29.3%) followed by skin (27/157; 17.2%), and sight (24/157; 15.3%). When adjusted for age and other predictors, long-term exposed sprayers had significantly higher self-reported occurrences of peripheral neuropathy (OR=7.7, CI95%: 1.045-56.728, p=0.045) and respiratory disorders (OR=0.2, CI95%: 0.067-0.501, p=0.001) compared with short-term exposed. Furthermore, 10 sprayers, all long-term exposed reported poor libido and erection problems. Conclusions: These findings document lack of safety knowledge, safe pesticide management and the implementation of protective measures as well as suggesting that long-term exposure to pesticides increase the risk of experience disease conditions compared to short-term exposure.

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Brommethan (Methyl bromide): Addendum BAT value documentation (2016) The German Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has re‐evaluated the “Biologischer Leitwert” (BLW) for methyl bromide, using bromide in serum/plasma to characterize the internal exposure. The critical effect of methyl bromide is a high acute and chronic neurotoxicity. It can pass through the skin so that biological monitoring is highly recommended. On the basis of results of a human study the occurrence of abnormal findings in the EEG is comparable for unexposed persons and persons with exposure to methyl bromide in concentrations below 12 mg bromide/l plasma. Thus the BLW value of 12 mg bromide/l plasma or serum was confirmed. The sampling time is at the end of exposure/shift after several previous shifts.

The German Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has re‐evaluated the BLW (“Biologischer Leitwert”) for methyl bromide, using bromide in serum/plasma to characterise the internal exposure. The critical effect of methyl bromide is a high acute and chronic neurotoxicity. It can pass through the skin so that biological monitoring is highly recommended. On the basis of results of a human study the occurrence of abnormal findings in the EEG is comparable for unexposed persons and persons with exposure to methyl bromide in concentrations below 12 mg bromide/l plasma. Thus the BLW of 12 mg bromide/l plasma or serum was confirmed. The sampling time for long‐term exposure is at the end of exposure/shift after several previous shifts. The evaluation of an EKA for methyl bromide in the air and S‐methylcysteine‐albumin adducts in blood is not possible as there is insufficient data available.