Pesticide Use and Self-Reported Symptoms of Acute Pesticide Poisoning among Aquatic Farmers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

Organophosphates and carbamates (OPs/CMs) are known for their acetylcholinesterase inhibiting character. A cross-sectional study of pesticide handling practices and self-perceived symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning was conducted using questionnaire-based interviews with 89 pesticide sprayers in Boeung Cheung Ek (BCE) Lake, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The study showed that 50% of the pesticides used belonged to WHO class I + II and personal protection among the farmers were inadequate. A majority of the farmers (88%) had experienced symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning, and this was significantly associated with the number of hours spent spraying with OPs/CMs (OR = 1.14, CI 95%: 1.02–1.28). The higher educated farmers reduced their risk of poisoning by 55% for each extra personal protective measure they adapted (OR = 0.45, CI 95%: 0.22–0.91). These findings suggest that improving safe pesticide management practices among the farmers and enforcing the effective banning of the most toxic pesticides will considerably reduce the number of acute pesticide poisoning episodes.

Effect of an educational program for farming mothers to protect their children from pesticide exposure

“…These results agree with [29], who reported that (92.0 %) of sample think pesticides can have a negative effect on the health. While the results in accordance with [30], who found that majority of the participant reported that exposure to pesticides hadn't an adverse effect on human health.…”

Pesticide knowledge, practice and attitude and how it affects the health of small-scale farmers in Uganda: A cross-sectional study

“…IPM emphasizes the importance of the growth of healthy crops and encourages natural pest control systems. It keeps the use of pesticides to a level that is affordable for the farmers and reduces the risk to humans and the environment while still yielding the expected outcome [4,7,13,35,36].…”

“…This sample size was deemed sufficient to give a realistic picture of the situation on knowledge, attitude and practise among pesticide using farmers, based on experience from similar studies in other parts of the world [13,36]. The selection of farmers was done by convenience interviewing of 40 farmers who had been selected as representatives of farmer groups ,and those who showed up after being invited by a village farmer contact, a (snowballing) selection method not as good as random selection, but often used in studies in developing countries due to lack of person registers, appropriate directions of villagers and difficult accessibility.…”

Occupational hazards and health cost of women cotton pickers in Pakistani Punjab

“…Thus cotton pickers in non-Bt cotton fields reported more symptoms relating to cotton picking. Atreya [26] and Shetty et al [29] find most commonly symptoms including headache, weakness, dizziness, fever, blurred vision, and nausea/vomiting among farm workers in India. Rizwan et al [16] also find such type of symptoms among cotton pickers.…”