Dermal exposure assessment to pesticides in farming systems in developing countries: comparison of models.
In the field of occupational hygiene, researchers have been working on developing appropriate methods to estimate human exposure to pesticides in order to assess the risk and therefore to take the due decisions to improve the pesticide management process and reduce the health risks. This paper evaluates dermal exposure models to ﬁnd the most appropriate. Eight models (i.e., COSHH, DERM, DREAM, EASE, PHED, RISKOFDERM, STOFFENMANAGER and PFAM) were evaluated according to a multi-criteria analysis and from these results five models (i.e., DERM, DREAM, PHED, RISKOFDERM and PFAM) were selected for the assessment of dermal exposure in the case study of the potato farming system in the Andean highlands of Vereda La Hoya, Colombia. The results show that the models provide different dermal exposure estimations which are not comparable. However, because of the simplicity of the algorithm and the speciﬁcity of the determinants, the DERM, DREAM and PFAM models were found to be the most appropriate although their estimations might be more accurate if specific determinants are included for the case studies in developing countries.
Camilo
C
Lesmes-Fabian
Centro de Investigaciones de Ingenierias "Alberto Magno" (CIIAM); Universidad Santo Tomas Seccional Tunja; Sede Campus: Av. Universitaria Calle 48, No. 1-235 Este, 15001 Tunja, Boyaca, Colombia. camilo.lesmes@usantoto.edu.co.
Camilo Lesmes
CL
Fabian
Department of Geography, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Luisenstrasse 37, D-80333 Munich, Germany. claudia.binder@lmu.de.
Claudia R
CR
Binder
D000383:Agriculture; D003105:Colombia; D003906:Developing Countries; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism
D010575:Pesticides