Farmers' exposure to herbicides in North Italy: assessment under real-life conditions in small-size rice and corn farms.
Although rice and corn are two main cash crops in Lombardy (North Italy) and their cultivation involves several thousands of farmers, risk assessment of pesticide exposure is rarely done, especially in small and medium sized enterprises. With the use of pads for environmental monitoring (OECD protocol), of pre- and post-exposure 24h urine collection for biological monitoring and of hand wash for hands' exposure, we measured the exposure of 28 agricultural workers to propanil and terbuthylazine in real-life working conditions. In propanil applicators, median daily exposure on the clothes was 73.5μmol per worker, while the exposure on the skin was 22.4μmol. For terbuthylazine, these exposures were 37.2μmol and 0.86μmol per worker, respectively. Median excretion of the propanil metabolite (3,4-dichloroaniline) after exposure was 84nmol in 24h urine, and 13nmol for the metabolite of terbuthylazine. Risk assessment performed by comparing to the AOELs of the applied active ingredients with an estimated internal dose, obtained based on the measured levels of skin and hand exposure and the percentage of dermal absorption of the active ingredients considered showed that 4 propanil workers, and no terbuthylazine workers, were overexposed. Our study helps define and confirm relationships between different exposure determinants, which can be used in the development of tools for risk assessment of exposure to pesticides in small and medium sized enterprises.
LaTMA Laboratory for Analytical Toxicology and Metabolomics, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, San Paolo University Hospital, Via di Rudinì 8 20124 Milan, Italy.
Federico M
FM
Rubino
Stefan
S
Mandic-Rajcevic
Eugenio
E
Ariano
Athanasios
A
Alegakis
Monica
M
Bogni
Gabri
G
Brambilla
Gioia
G
De Paschale
Anna
A
Firmi
Claudio
C
Minoia
Giuseppina
G
Micoli
Simona
S
Savi
Cristina
C
Sottani
Chiara
C
Somaruga
Roberta
R
Turci
Francesca
F
Vellere
Aristidis
A
Tsatsakis
Claudio
C
Colosio
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D003020:Clothing; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006540:Herbicides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D012275:Oryza; D018570:Risk Assessment; D055815:Young Adult; D003313:Zea mays
D006540:Herbicides