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Risk Assessment of Occupational Exposure to Pesticides

  • Conference paper
Comparative Risk Assessment and Environmental Decision Making

Part of the book series: Nato Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences ((NAIV,volume 38))

Abstract

The agricultural chemicals commonly labeled as pesticides are perhaps the largest group of poisonous substances being intentionally disseminated throughout the environment. For some pesticides neither health nor environmental risk evaluations are available. Therefore, at the moment the prevention of occupational and environmental consequences of pesticide use may only be achieved if methodologies and threshold environmental values are developed for the assessment of risk to the individual due to handling pesticides. Pre-marketing preventive actions are the primary responsibility of industry and the public health and governmental authorities. These include discovering the toxicological properties of each pesticide (hazard identification), determine the dose-response relationship (No Observed Effect Level, or NOEL, identification), assessing or predicting the exposure level in the various exposure scenarios; and characterizing the risk. Post-marketing preventive activities consist of the promotion of proper risk management at the workplace. Such management includes the safety assessment of the specific conditions of use, the adoption of proper work practices, and assessment of background exposure, cultural and life-style factors, and bio-markers of specific susceptibility. Such bio-markers including semen quality assessment and biochemical markers of exposure, serum uric acid, urea, creatinine, bilirubin, aspartate amino transferase (AST), and Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase (ALT). In a case study (Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt), involving 240 different individuals, reduction in semen quality in the pesticide applicators (PA) was seen compared with none farm workers (NFW). Also, biochemical markers, uric acid, urea, creatinine and AST in PA were near the upper limit values of normal. The monitoring and surveillance of pesticide exposures is mainly suggested by the established concept of the reference value and related analytical procedures. This concept is an essential contribution to an objective discussion of risk with regard to individual stress and strain profiles in environmental exposure scenarios.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Graduate Studies & Research, Alexandria University, P.O. Box 832, Alexandria, Egypt

    A. M. Attia

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  1. A. M. Attia
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICF Consulting, Lexington, MA, USA

    Igor Linkov

  2. Cambridge Environmental, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA

    Igor Linkov

  3. Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt

    Abou Bakr Ramadan

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© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Attia, A.M. (2004). Risk Assessment of Occupational Exposure to Pesticides. In: Linkov, I., Ramadan, A.B. (eds) Comparative Risk Assessment and Environmental Decision Making. Nato Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2243-3_23

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