title: Pesticides in Lebanon: a knowledge, attitude, and practice study.
abstract: Pesticides, despite their known toxicity, are widely used in developing countries. Evaluating the pattern of their use would be interesting to assess the appropriateness of adequate intervention. Using a standardized questionnaire, a knowledge, attitude, and practice study was performed in two Lebanese regions, in which a group of agricultural workers was compared to workers of the general population and a third group of pesticide distributors. Agricultural workers were exposed to pesticides during cropping, mixing, loading, and application (100%). They had low pesticide knowledge scales compared to pesticide distributors and to the general population workers (P<10(-7)). The preventive measures they took were low, and the lower their knowledge was, the lower were the preventive measures applied (P<10(-3)). Pesticide safety education is necessary in order to induce protective behavior among agricultural workers. The general population may also benefit from increasing their awareness regarding pesticides.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon. pascalesalameh@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Pascale R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Salameh
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Baldi
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brochard
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abi Saleh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D000383:Agriculture; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides