Pesticide use and opportunities of exposure among farmers and their families: cross-sectional studies 1998-2006 from Hebron governorate, occupied Palestinian territory.
BACKGROUND
Adverse health effects caused by pesticide exposure have been reported in occupied Palestinian territory and the world at large. The objective of this paper is to compare patterns of pesticide use in Beit-U'mmar village, West Bank, between 1998 and 2006.


METHODS
We studied two populations in Beit-U'mmar village, comprised of: 1) 61 male farmers and their wives in 1998 and 2) 250 male farmers in 2006. Both populations completed a structured interview, which included questions about socio-demographic factors, types of farming tasks, as well as compounds, quantities, and handling of pesticides. Using the 1998 population as a reference, we applied generalized linear regression models (GLM) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in order to estimate prevalence differences (PD) between the two populations.


RESULTS
In 1998, farmers used 47 formulated pesticides on their crops. In 2006, 16 of these pesticides were still in use, including five internationally banned compounds. There were positive changes with less use of large quantities of pesticides (>40 units/year) (PD -51; CI -0.60, -0.43), in applying the recommended dosage of pesticides (PD +0.57; CI +0.48, +0.68) and complying with the safety period (PD +0.89; CI+0.83, +0.95). Changes also included farmers' habits while applying pesticides, such as less smoking (PD -0.20; CI-0.34, -0.07) and eating at the work place (PD -0.33; CI-0.47, -0.19). No significant changes were found from 1998 to 2006 regarding use of personal protective equipment, pesticide storage, farmers' habits after applying pesticides, and in using some highly hazardous pesticides.


CONCLUSIONS
The results were based on two cross-sectional surveys and should be interpreted with caution due to potential validity problems. The results of the study suggest some positive changes in the handling of pesticides amongst participants in 2006, which could be due to different policy interventions and regulations that were implemented after 1998. However, farm workers in Beit -U'mmar village are still at risk of health effects because of ongoing exposure to pesticides. To the best of our knowledge, no studies on long-term changes in pesticide use have been reported from developing countries.
University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, Department of General Practice and Community Medicine, Section for Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology. yaser_74@hotmail.com
Yaser
Y
Issa
Farid Abu
FA
Sham'a
Khaldoun
K
Nijem
Espen
E
Bjertness
Petter
P
Kristensen
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D018912:Arabs; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008877:Middle East; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010575:Pesticides / Q000506:poisoning*; D011481:Protective Clothing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
D010575:Pesticides