P-150 Pesticide exposure of operators during treatment tasks in apple growing: results from the CANEPA study in France

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> Although apple trees are heavily sprayed, few studies are available on pesticide exposures of workers in apple orchard. However, these data are crucial for assessing the health impact of such exposures. <h3>Objectives</h3> The CANEPA study was performed to measure pesticide exposures during treatment tasks in apple orchard and to identify their determinants. <h3>Methods</h3> A non-controlled field study was conducted in apple orchards in four regions of France in 2016–2017. We measured operators’ external contamination to captan and dithianon, two fungicides representative of pesticide use in apple growing. Measurements of contamination were performed during mixing/loading, spraying and equipment cleaning tasks, following the OECD guidelines with cotton pads placed onto 11 body areas, cotton gloves or hand rinsing and personal air sampling pump equipped with XAD-2 filters. In parallel, we performed detailed observations of work characteristics on the whole day and measured residues on various surfaces. <h3>Results</h3> We observed 30 treatment days corresponding to 52 mixing/loading, 52 spraying and 12 equipment cleaning tasks. The median daily dermal contamination was 5.5 mg for captan and 3.3 mg for dithianon. The average contribution of each phase to the daily dermal contamination was 41.5% for mixing/loading, 29.6% for spraying and 33.0% for cleaning. During mixing/loading, the major determinants of the contamination were related to the use of gloves, the product handling and the characteristics of the spraying equipment. During spraying, dermal contamination was strongly correlated to the spraying equipment (e.g. type and age of the sprayer) and the characteristics of the orchard (height of trees, distance between rows). The daily contamination was also correlated to these parameters. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Key determinants of exposure will be used to build prevention messages to improve the safety of operators during treatment operations, especially during mixing and cleaning, the most contaminant tasks. They will also be relevant to build questionnaires for epidemiological studies.