Chlorpyrifos Decontamination Procedures for Clothing and Equipment

Abstract

The safe clean-up of pesticide spills in the workplace and decontamination of equipment and clothing are important in minimizing pesticide exposure. The objectives of the research were: to develop a detoxification procedure for chlorpyrifos which would enable safe clean-up on the job site; to determine if a 3-hour chlorine bleach pretreatment of fabrics contaminated with dilute chlorpyrifos is as effective in pesticide removal from 65/35 polyester/cotton as from 100% cotton; and to determine whether the chlorine bleach pretreatment is effective for removal of concentrated chlorpyrifos residues. The researchers make specific recommendations for chlorine bleach detoxification of chlorpyrifos, and for use of a bleach/soak laundry protocol for removal of dilute chlorpyrifos from cotton and polyester/cotton. Concentrated chlorpyrifos cannot be effectively removed from either fabric by laundering.