2. Presentation outline
Introduction
Materials and methods
Sampling location and crop type
Studied products and pesticides (active substances)
Sampling methods, experimental set up and analysis
Risk assessment
Results and discussion
Conclusion
3. Introduction
Importance of plant protection products
• To kill or prevent pest, diseases and weeds
• To ensure effective plant growth and high yields
Problems of plant protection products
• Presents a potential health risk to the operators, workers
and bystanders
• A potential risk to the environment
4. Introduction
Problems of plant protection products
• Human exposure to plant protection products
• Operator
• Worker
• Bystander
Operator Workers Bystanders
5. Introduction
General objective
To study the exposure of workers and operators to plant
protection products during and after application in
ornamental greenhouses
6. Introduction
Specific objectives
Determine the quantity of pesticides operators and
workers are exposed to
OPERATOR: Study the distribution of exposure on
the body of operators
WORKER : Identification of the re-entry activities of
workers having high and low rate of pesticide
exposure
7. Materials and methods
Sampling location and crop type
Materials for the study was from an ornamental greenhouse pot
plant grower in East-Flanders.
Some ornamentals grown are: Clivias, Orchids and Azaleas
Clivias Orchid Azalea
8. Materials and methods
Study products and active substances
imidacloprid (Warrant 200 SL)
deltamethrin ( Decis EC 2.5)
A combination of fluazinam and metalaxyl-m (Epok 600 EC)
9. Material and methods
Sampling methods and experimental set up
Dermal exposure WORKERS and OPERATORS
Whole body dosimeter for the body and gloves for the hands
Coverall (DuPont Tyvex model CHF5) and gloves
OPERATORS activities
Mixing/loading
Application
deltamethrin and imidacloprid
Figure 1 Coverall sections for PDE (Flores et al., 2011)
10. Materials and methods
Sampling methods and experimental set up
WORKERS activities considered includes;
Sorting and cleaning of plants treated with imidacloprid and
fluazinam
Transferring plants treated with imidacloprid
Selecting plants treated with fluazinam
Potting plants treated with fluazinam and imidacloprid into soil
Sampling of gloves, leaves (from clivia) and soil materials
Sampling duration: 2 hours
11. Materials and methods
Chemical analysis
Analysis was made by GC-MS for all materials on deltamethrin
and fluazinam
Analysis was made by HPLC for all materials on imidacloprid
12. Materials and methods
Risk assessment
The amount of the pesticides in the different materials analyzed
were used to calculate the potential dermal exposure (PDE),
DFR, soil residue, Transfer Coefficient.
PDE = DFR x TC x T
DFR = AR/LAI
Soil Residue = Amount (µg)/ mass of soil measured (mg)
Transfer Coefficient = PDE/DFR
13. Materials and methods
Risk assessment
From the calculated potential dermal exposure (PDE), the
absorbed doses and risk indices were calculated as well.
Absorbed dose 10%
Risk Index
RI = analysed human exposure / toxicity normation (AOEL)
If RI ≥1 problem
If RI < 1 no problem
14. Results and discussion
Figure 2. Distribution of operator dermal exposure for deltamethrin (9 trial )
Lower legs
and hands
having high
exposure
The arms and
head having
low exposure
51.05
97.78
116.14
141.28
28.53
8.17
9.45
2.27
2.18
2.34
4.05
41.49
21.96
- 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00 120.00 140.00 160.00
right hand (gloves)
Left hand (gloves)
lower leg left
lower leg right
Upper leg left
Upper leg right
upper arm left
upper arm right
lower arm left
lower arm right
head
torso front
torso back
PDE (µg/h)
BodyParts
OPERATOR exposure – deltamethrin glasshouse 9 trial
15. Results and discussion
Figure 3. Distribution of operator dermal exposure for imidacloprid (12 trial )
The hands, lower
right leg, upper left
leg , and upper
right leg having
high exposure
The torsos, head ,
lower left leg and
right arm having
low exposure
580.50
223.89
0.08
98.55
161.08
119.32
71.94
13.36
38.06
0.08
0.08
2.06
0.08
- 200.00 400.00 600.00 800.00
right hand (gloves)
Left hand (gloves)
lower leg left
lower leg right
Upper leg left
Upper leg right
upper arm left
upper arm right
lower arm left
lower arm right
head
torso front
torso back
PDE (µg/h)
BodyParts
OPERATOR exposure – imidacloprid glasshouse 12 trial
16. Results and discussion
Figure 4. Distribution of operator dermal exposure for imidacloprid (trial 21 )
The hands and
legs having the
high exposure
The torsos, head
, upper and
lower arms
having low
exposure
1,562.15
645.27
645.27
316.44
50.58
69.18
6.05
10.24
4.80
39.91
8.65
0.08
1.18
- 200.00 400.00 600.00 800.001,000.001,200.001,400.001,600.001,800.00
right hand (gloves)
Left hand (gloves)
lower leg left
lower leg right
Upper leg left
Upper leg right
upper arm left
upper arm right
lower arm left
lower arm right
head
torso front
torso back
PDE (µg/h)
BodyParts
OPERATOR exposure – imidacloprid glasshouse 21 trial
17. Results and discussion
Operators activities Absorbed dose (10 %) Risk index (RI)
Mixing/loading and application
of deltamethrin glasshouse 9 trial
7.52E-05 1.00E-02
Mixing/loading and application of
imidacloprid glasshouse 12 trial
1.87E-04 2.34E-03
Mixing/loading and application of
imidacloprid glasshouse 21 trial
4.80E-04 5.99E-03
Operators activities and absorbed dose
AOEL imidacloprid = 0.08 mg/kgBW/day, deltamethrin = 0.0075 mg/kgBw/day
20. Conclusions
Hands and legs are the most exposed during spraying
Transferring plants in pots caused the highest exposure
Exposure of the hands with the treated leaves (DFR) ends up in
a higher amount compared to the hands touching the soil (SR).
Absorbed doses (internal exposure) for both the workers and
operators were less than the AOEL of the different PPP applied
