Orchardists spraying pesticides

The Assessment of Potential Health Hazards to Orchardists Spraying Pesticides... 

Franklin, C.A., N.I. Muir and R. Greenhalgh (1982). The assessment of potential hazards to orchardists spraying pesticides, in Pesticide Residues and Exposure, J.R. Plimmer (Ed.), ACS Symposium Series 182, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 157-168. 

In addition to these calculated estimates of absorption, a specific estimate of absorbed dose can be made by measuring the metabolites of the pesticide in urine. For pesticides on which good data exist on metabolic excretion, it appears that this method is very sensitive. In a study conducted on orchardists (7), metabolites were detected in the urine samples of all workers, and a statistically significant correlation was found between the total 48 hour metabolite output and the total amount of pesticide sprayed. In contrast the same study indicated that the correlation between urinary output and the total spray time was not significant. This supports the point mentioned earlier that it seems reasonable to presume that exposure is related to the total amount available for contact, and that correlating exposure with the spray time may be misleading. 

MacMillan Smoke Wars, pp. 243—245 Quivik, Smoke and Tailings, pp. 434— 438. The Anaconda smelter produced 14,000 tons of arsenic in 1933 (it is unclear whether this is expressed as As or as As203) T. LeCain, The Limits of Eco-efficiency Arsenic Pollution and the Cottrell Electrical Precipitator in the U.S. Copper Smelting Industry, Environmental History, vol. 5, pp. 336—351 (2000). Arsenic usage for pesticides in the United States in 1934 can be calculated from P. A. Neal et al., A Study of the Effect of Lead Arsenate Exposure on Orchardists and Consumers of Sprayed Fruit, Public Health Service Bulletin 267, 1941, p. 12, as approximately 21,000 tons (as As). In this calculation, the average arsenic content of lead arsenate is assumed to be 20% and the annual consumption of Paris green is assumed to be 4.5 million pounds. 

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