La stima dell’impatto dei dispositivi di protezione nella riduzione del rischio in ambito di regolamentazione dei prodotti fitosanitari: dalla teoria alla pratica.

In Europe, the use of plant protection products is authorised provided the operator risk assessment carried out does not show exposure levels above the health-based triggers. Two models are currently available (German and UK models) to estimate exposure levels of agricultural operators. They consider, among different variables, the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), based on their capacity to reduce exposure through the application of specific “reduction factors”, derived from laboratory or field studies. Such factors, which date back to ‘90s, could be obsolete, as indicated by recent literature, posing problems on the reliability of current estimates. Therefore, the exposure estimates produced in Europe from 2005 to 2007, for 52 active ingredients in 395 scenarios, have been collected and analysed to check whether the application of recent exposure reduction factors might have an impact on the final outcomes. In some case the exposure levels resulted underestimated, highlighting the problem of operator safety with regard to the use of specific PPE and to an adequate training programme.