Definizione e validazione di un profilo di esposizione e rischio per l’applicazione di antiparassitari in colture protette

In the frame of a project of the Lombardy Region, addressed at promotion of prevention in pesticide use in agriculture, a model for the estimation of the exposure and the health risk in greenhouses has been created (“Pesticide Exposure and Risk Profile”). This study has been carried out with the aim of validating the model, through the definition of the levels of concordance between the risk estimates produced by the profile and the levels of exposure actually measured in typical greenhouse activities. To this aim, a group of six greenhouse workers, two, respectively, for mixing and loafing, application, re-entry, has been selected, exposed to chlorpiryfos-methyl. Exposure was assessed through determination of environmental and biological parameters, that is, respectively, chlorpiryfos-methyl in the air and in the workers skin, and 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol collected in 24-hr urine samples. The study pointed out, for each of the jobs taken into account, occupational exposure levels largely below those able to bring about an health risk. These finding were in good agreement with the model estimates. Despite some limits (small number of subjects considered; only very low exposure levels detected) the study suggest that exposure and risk profile are a promising tool for pesticide risk prevention in agriculture