ObjectivesThis study assessed the pesticide exposure and the occupational health of the agricultural farmers in the Philippines. The study site is one of the largest vegetable-producing province in the Philippines.MethodsThis study used both survey questionnaire and physical health assessment, including mental state examination. The pesticide exposure was estimated based on the duration of years of use of pesticide, as well as the amount applied per spray application. The data results were segregated between gender because women are also heavily engaged in agriculture in this part of the Philippines.ResultsThe results showed that pesticide exposure usually happened during agricultural activities such as spray application in the field (63.9%), mixing (38.4%), loading (34.1%) and field re-entry (9.7%) The most frequently used pesticides were Tamaron (OP), Selecron (OP), and Dithane (Carbamate). The mean years of pesticide use was 14.23 years for males, and 15.4 years for fe-males. For the exposure to pesticides, expressed in terms of number of years and amount used per spray application, the average exposure of the males was 2,024.43 ml-years; and for females, it was 993.55. Among farmers, 49% complained of being sick because of work. Of those who got ill, a large percentage of this, 69.8%, did not receive any medi-cal attention. The most prevalent health symptoms were muscle pain (63.3%), easy fatigability (52.4%), and loss of appetite (27.5%). For the mini-mental state examination, abnormalities were found in 5.4% for males and 40.8% in females. The use of insecticide was associated with weak-ness, easy fatigability and weight loss.ConclusionPesticide exposure is considerable among the farmers. The occupational health condi-tions presented by the farmers can be linked with their pesticide investigation. Although this study has presented some risk factors associated with general health symptoms, further investigation should look into specific pesticide-health correlation.
O1A.4 Assessment of pesticide-related pollution and occupational health of vegetable farmers
