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poisoned through mishandling of an agrochemical product. The incident
convinced Parfitt of the need for pesticide labels to contain easily understandable
symbols that convey safety warnings and advice. Using her artistic skills,
she designed her own symbols and approached Shell International for sponsorship
and agrochemical expertise. As a result of this collaboration and
field-testing in six developing countries, a labeling system was developed
(Fig. 1).
In 1984, these pictograms were submitted to FAO for consideration and
endorsement for worldwide use. FAQ requested more exhaustive field-testing
to ensure that the symbols were understandable to people of diverse cultures
and with low levels of literacy. In response, the International Association of
Agrochemical Manufacturers established a pictogram working group
comprising labeling, safety, and environmental specialists and an FAQ
representative.
The working group reviewed previous work on agrochemical labeling systems
using pictograms and examined general international and national
warning and advice symbols, such as road and factory signs. Two decisions
had to be made: which messages to portray and where to locate the symbols.
Because of space limitations on labels, only the most important messages
could be portrayed and these were to be selected on the basis of incident
experience. For example, not wearing gloves when handling pesticide concentrates
has led to far more incidents than smoking during product use. In fact
4
Fig. 1. Pictogram labeling system developed by Parfitt and Shell International.
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