Impact of - IDL-BNC @ IDRC - International Development Research ...

Table 1. Poisoning incidents in four Asian countries by type of activity.
Spraying Mixing or diluting Othera
Country Incidents % poisoned Incidents % poisoned Incidents % poisoned
Indonesia 15 7.6 23 7.0 3 11.5
Malaysia 181 5.7 107 3.4 2 0.2
Sri Lanka 157 11.9 147 11.5 18 11.5
Thailand 361 19.4 352 19.8 32 17.6
a Includes equipment repair.
Some of the specific factors contributing to acute pesticide poisoning
(Jeyaratnam 1985) are:
Lack of protective clothing suitable for tropical climates;
Poor knowledge and understanding of safe practices in pesticide use;
Use of pesticides (by farmers) in concentrations in excess of
requirements;
Poor maintenance facilities for spray equipment, giving rise to hazardous
contamination; and
Use of pesticide mixtures.
Action for prevention and control
Having established that acute pesticide poisoning is an important health
problem in the countries of the developing world and having identified some
of the factors responsible, it is appropriate to consider prevention and control
of this problem. Control of the factors listed above would contribute greatly
to minimizing unnecessary misery for a large number of people. This is an
area where the agrochemical industry could take direct responsibility. For
example, industry could take the steps necessary to provide suitable backup
services for spray equipment, develop protective clothing suitable for use in
tropical climates, promote farmers' awareness of the need to use the correct
concentration of pesticide, stop marketing mixtures unless they are absolutely
necessary, and develop containers that are less likely to be misused.
The ultimate responsibility for the control of pesticides must, however, rest
with national governments. Unfortunately, in many developing countries,
pesticide controls either do not exist or are poorly implemented. In 81 member
countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), there were either no control measures or no information available, 6
countries were in the process of introducing some control measures, and 26
countries had control measures but implementation was poor (Bates 1981).
Most of these were developing countries.
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