Farm workers, poisoning

On May 14, 1971, 154 female collective farm workers from the Ilyich Collective Farm in the Krivoozersk Region started work in a beet field one hour after treatment with polychlorpinen. Acute poisoning took place immediately. 

In the summer of 1972 in the Kuybyshev Collective Farm in the Krivoozersk Region, a field was fertilized with ammonia solution 14 days after treatment with polychlorpinen. Twenty-seven female collective farm workers went into the field on the following day (the 15th after treatment with polychlorpinen), and were immediately poisoned. Seven days later they were sent again to the same field, with the same result. 

On April 25, 1972, a field from the Banner of Communism Collective Farm in the Bratsk Region was treated with polychlorpinen. Thirty-three female collective farm workers, working in this field from May 5-21, did not complain about conditions. On May 22, two to three hours after a wind carried over amino salt 2,4-D from a neighboring field that had been sprayed at the time, all 33 displayed symptoms of acute poisoning (the concentration of polychlorpinen in the air over the field was only 0.03-0.001 mg/m3 two days after the poisoning). 

On May 1-2, 1974, a field from the Zhdanov Collective Farm in the Krivoozersk Region was treated with polychlorpinen. On May 15-25, 57 female collective farm workers worked in this field with no complaints. From May 30-June 6 the field was fertilized with ammonium nitrate, and on June 8 it rained. When, on June 11, the same 57 women worked in this field again, by 2pm all developed acute gas poisoning (the concentration of polychlorpinen in the air over the field three days later was only 0.04 mg/m3). 

Female collective farm workers suffered acute poisoning 2.5 hours after the last polychlorpinen treatment of the field. 

A mass poisoning of female collective farm workers while weeding the sugar beet field took place eight days after the last polychlorpinen treatment (with high soil humidity). 

Pesticide poisoning incidents from 1959-68 in Uzbekistan were analyzed. The acute poisoning analysis permitted us to divide sufferers into three groups the first indudes workers who have direct contact with pestiddes the second includes collective farm workers who worked in the fields shortly after the crops were treated and the third includes people who suffered the effects of pestiddes introduced into their bodies through water, food, and inhalation. 

Farm workers are especially susceptible to organophosphate insecticide poisoning. Unsafe spraying conditions can lead to accumulated toxicity and chronic symptoms. Since there are many enzymes in the body which are in the serine esterase family along with Achase and can complex... 

Pesticide poisoning has become common among farm workers, pesticide applicators, mixers, loaders, and handlers. This has been traced to the users ignorance, carelessness, and lack of elementary knowledge about taking the proper precautions before handling toxic chemicals. The symptoms of pesticide poisoning are not common to all the products, but vary with each product and its formulation. Some of the symptoms include headache, nausea, muscle aches, irritation of eyes and nasal and... 

Some elementary practices have been suggested to reduce pesticide poisoning, if it is not possible to completely stop such chemical hazards, among farm workers ... 

Dieldrin has caused numerous cases of chronic poisoning to workers who have sprayed the compound for several months. Characteristically there is headache, dizziness, and involuntary muscular movements. In severe cases there are epileptic convulsions with loss of consciousness. The only ocular disturbance so far noted in human beings has been blurred vision of undetermined cause, and nystagmus accompanying incoordination and tremor. In a study of five male farm workers exposed to a mixture of herbicides and pesticides including dieldrin, four were found to have suffered impotence after chronic exposure sexual function recovered after termination of exposure. 

Agricultural workers often experience long-term low level pesticide exposures. In a study of 175 farm workers so exposed, it was found that chronic exposure (over many years) to low levels of pesticides produced neurological impairments similar to those observed in acute organophosphate pesticide poisonings. ... 

Growth of the agrochemical industry in China has been accompanied by problems related to quality control, unsafe application of chemicals, and pesticide residues. According to a report from the Chinese National Statistics Bureau, 48,377 pesticide poisoning cases, including 3,204 fatalities, were reported in 27 provinces in 1995. Another government estimate placed total farm worker fatalities due to pesticides at 7,000-10,000 annually. 

Pesticide poisoning is a major problem, resulting in large numbers of deaths there were 10,000 farm worker deaths from pesticides in 1993. 

In 1996, 22 farm workers were hospitalised while harvesting grapes after being poisoned by drift during the application of pesticides in a nearby cotton field. 

Medical costs to society of pesticide poisonings and chronic health problems of farmers, farm workers, and members of rural communities ... 

The so-called stachybotryotoxicosis occurs mainly in Ukraine, Hungary, and other East European countries. The symptoms in horses, pigs, cattle, and poultry are skin necrosis, inner hemorrhages, states of shock, irritations of stomach mucous membranes, reduced leukocyte count, nervousness. In severe cases the animals die within 1 - 3 d. Farm-workers who handle infected hay and straw may also show signs of poisoning such as skin and mucous irritations, cough, nosebleeds, fever, etc. Like all trichothecenes the S. inhibit eukaryotic protein biosynthesis. 

Contact reactions to plants in farm workers cover a wide spectrum. Reactions occur to poison ivy, oak and sumac [145] which are often not reported. Exposure can occur when clearing fence rows and sometimes when handling domestic animals. These plants are not usually found with the crops, where herbicides are used for weed control, but are more often seen on fence rows. Sometimes contaminated hair of farm animals is the source. The details of Toxicodendron dermatitis were given in the previous section. 

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