Valutazione del rischio da antiparassitari per l'operatore addetto al diserbo del riso e del mais nella regione Lombardia : risultati di una indagine pilota

This pilot study has been carried out in the region of Lombardy (Italy) with the aims of: (1) assessing pesticide exposure and risk in herbicide application in rice and maize crops and (2) testing an integrated approach, in which all the main variables related with working modalities are considered, and the levels of exposure are assessed through the determination of both external and internal dose. Nine small agricultural enterprises have been considered, 4 engaged in rice and 5 in maize cultivation, with 1 applicator/each. The study pointed out median levels of absorption of 1.02 mcg/kg/die(range: 16.04 – 0.81), for propanil and 0.02 mcg/kg/die (range: 0.074 – 0.009) for terbutilazine. The absorbed dose resulted largely minor than Acceptable Operator Exposure Levels (AOELs) in all the subjects considered. The levels of excretion of 3,4 dichloroaniline showed a statistically significant difference between pre exposure (Median = n.c.) and post exposure levels (Median é 24.5mcg/24h), whilst no difference was observed for terbutilazine excretion. Finally, correlation between calculated internal dose and metabolite excretion was significant (Spearman’s rho = 0.9, p < 0,05). In conclusion, our study suggests that, in the exposure scenario considered, the risk for the operator is negligible, Moreover, our approach might allow the definition of biological exposure indices for selected pesticides and be useful for the creation of exposure and risk profiles.