 Pesticides are not new to agriculture, but in the past 40 years, many new types of pesticides have been introduced, and their use has increased tremendously. Along with the many benefits of widespread pesticide use have come some problems. One such problem is the potential health hazard which pesticides represent for agricultural workers. When we speak of pesticides, we mean the many chemicals which are used to destroy or otherwise control the pests attacking crops, livestock, homes, people, and so on. Fertilizers, which are plant nutrients, are not pesticides. There are various kinds of pesticides, the ones that control insects are called insecticides. Those that control weeds are herbicides, and those that control plant diseases caused by fungi are called fungicides. Some pesticides control plant growth rather than some pests. For example, cotton defoliants are pesticides. Because of the potential for injury associated with pesticides, we have strict federal state and county laws to control their use. These laws are designed to protect the farm worker, the public, and the environment. Let's talk about some of the ways pesticides can damage the environment. If they are applied on a windy day, they can drift into and contaminate non-target areas. Another kind of contamination can occur when rain or irrigation water washes the pesticide off the treated plants and carries it into streams, ponds, and groundwater. Fish kills may result and drinking supplies can be affected. Sometimes wild animals enter treated fields or drink contaminated water and are poisoned. Herbicide drift can cause damage to crops and other non-target plants. Another potential pesticide related problem is the accidental destruction of bees, since they also are insects. They are sensitive to some of the same insecticides used to kill pest species. But just as important as these environmental considerations are the possible human health problems associated with pesticide use. To avoid illness or even death from pesticide poisoning, it is important to understand several things about them. In this slideshow, we will learn how these chemicals can get into our bodies, how they can make us ill, and what we can do to protect ourselves from pesticide poisoning. There are two types of pesticide poisoning, chronic and acute. Chronic poisoning occurs little by little during a long period of exposure to small amounts of toxic substance. The term chronic poisoning is also sometimes used to refer to illnesses which show up many years after exposure. It is difficult to discuss chronic poisoning since there is no absolute way of determining the long-range impact of pesticide exposure on health. Some pesticides have been used for more than 40 years, with no evidence of any damage to humans. Others have proven to be so harmful that their use has been suspended or their use pattern changed to reduce worker exposure. What must be emphasized when talking about chronic poisoning is that when you apply a pesticide which requires the use of protective equipment, you must use that equipment. If you are working in a field where protection is required, use the appropriate equipment. If you ignore safety precautions, you are risking your health as well as your life. There is no guarantee that your carelessness won't have an impact on your health in 15 or 20 years. The second type of poisoning, acute poisoning, produces symptoms soon after exposure or within a few hours or days. To protect yourself from acute poisoning, you must understand how pesticides can enter the body. The most common way pesticides cause poisoning among agricultural workers is through skin absorption. If a pesticide comes in contact with your skin, immediately take off any contaminated clothing and wash the affected area. By acting quickly, you may avoid serious injury. This person did not act promptly and suffered severe chemical burns. Poisoning can also occur as the result of ingestion. Children are the most frequent victims of this kind of poisoning. Keep pesticides in their original containers with the label attached. Never put them in old food or beverage containers. Someone could mistake them for something edible. Store pesticides where children and other uninformed persons cannot reach them. Chemical substances are also rapidly absorbed by the eyes. A single drop of a highly toxic pesticide could cause blindness or death. Finally, pesticides can enter the body by breathing them in. What are the symptoms of pesticide poisoning? The following slides list symptoms for mild, moderate and severe poisons with some of the most commonly used insecticides. Mild poisoning symptoms include tiredness, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, excessive perspiration, nausea and vomiting, cramps or diarrhea. Moderate poisoning symptoms are inability to walk, weakness, chest pains, and pinpoint pupils. This symptom is especially significant because while many of the symptoms mentioned could be symptoms of other illnesses, pinpoint pupils are usually specific to pesticide poisoning. Severe poisoning could produce all the previously mentioned symptoms plus unconsciousness, extreme pinpoint pupils, convulsions, secretions from the nose and mouth, difficulty breathing, coma, and if the victim is not treated properly, possible death. Generally, symptoms will be noticed soon after exposure, but in some instances, onset may be delayed several hours or even days. If symptoms have not developed within two or three days of exposure, acute poisoning has probably not occurred. Some early symptoms of pesticide poisoning are similar to cold and allergy symptoms, but if you feel ill and think that pesticides may be the cause, see a doctor. Some plants such as tomatoes, carrots, and celery cause rashes in sensitive individuals. Since some pesticides also cause skin irritation, plant-caused rashes could be incorrectly attributed to pesticides. But again, it is best to see your doctor if there is any doubt. Let your doctor determine if your symptoms are pesticide-related or not. If they are, and exposure occurred while working, workman's compensation will pay the medical expenses. In the field, be prepared for accidents by knowing what first aid to give a poisoning victim. If a worker spills pesticide on his or her clothing, take the contaminated clothing off immediately. Wash the skin with plenty of clean water. Remember that by acting quickly, serious injury can often be avoided. If the pesticide has been swallowed, read the container label to determine whether or not the victim should be made to vomit. Do not induce vomiting if the victim has swallowed a petroleum product or a caustic material. Never induce vomiting or try to give something orally if the victim is unconscious or having convulsions. If the label indicates that the victim should be made to vomit, and the victim is conscious, induce vomiting by touching a blunt object to the back of the throat. Never give the victim salt. Large quantities of salt are toxic. If pesticide gets into the eye, start rinsing the eye immediately with a steady, gentle stream of clean, cool water for at least 15 minutes. Do not add any kind of eye drops to the water or directly to the eye. If the pesticide has been inhaled, the victim will need fresh air. But if the victim is in an enclosed place, do not attempt to rescue until you have put on the appropriate protective equipment. Take the victim to a well-ventilated place and loosen any restrictive clothing. If breathing has stopped, give artificial respiration immediately and then get the victim to a medical facility. Whenever a serious pesticide-related accident occurs, the victim should be taken to a doctor. Never permit the victim to go to the doctor unaccompanied or to drive a vehicle. Pesticide poisoning victims can suddenly lose consciousness without previous warning. Take along the pesticide label, or at least the name of the pesticide, the manufacturer, and the active ingredients. The doctor will need this information to be able to treat the victim. Many of you may never actually handle pesticides, but you will sometimes work near areas that are being treated or enter previously treated fields. In the field, most pesticides remain poisonous for only a few hours or days because the sun, air, humidity, and other elements cause them to break down into less harmful chemicals. Therefore, in most cases, it is safe to touch the treated crop as soon as the dust settles or the spray dries. However, when some pesticides are applied to grapes, citrus, and certain other crops, they break down slowly and there has to be a waiting period between treatment and field reentry. This waiting period is for workers who are engaged in activities which require substantial contact with treated plants, for example, pickers and pruners. If workers must enter a treated field to do this sort of work, they should wear the same type of protective equipment required when handling the pesticide. Some of the pesticides which cause problems are parathyon, methylparathyon, Guthion, Phosphamidon, and Delnev. When a pesticide with a reentry interval of seven days or more is applied, warning signs must be posted in the treated field. These signs should be in English and Spanish. If an employer has reason to believe that the written signs will not be understood, he must also give verbal warning to workers. In addition to those pesticides which break down slowly, the law requires that all toxicity Category 1 pesticides have a 24- or 48-hour reentry interval. Category 1 pesticides are those materials which pose the greatest threat to human health. There is another kind of waiting period associated with pesticide use. This is the harvest interval, the period of time which must pass between a pesticide application and the point at which the crop is safe to eat. Harvest intervals vary with the pesticide and the crop. They give pesticides untreated crops time to wear off and break down into non-toxic residues. Make sure there is no harvest interval in effect before you eat anything from the field. Workers who actually handle pesticides need to understand the importance of protective clothing and equipment. This equipment will vary depending on the pesticide, its concentration, and the way the worker is going to handle it. Concentrated pesticide is the pesticide as it comes from the container. This is the most toxic form of the material and therefore mixers and loaders must be especially careful to avoid contamination. If you work with concentrated pesticides, take all of the precautionary measures and use all of the protective equipment indicated on the label. A pesticide becomes less poisonous once it is diluted with water. Nevertheless, it is still capable of poisoning a person, so pesticide applicators and flaggers must use the protective equipment appropriate to their jobs. Protective equipment can include face shields, rubber gloves and boots, overalls, and a waterproof hat or hood. The gloves and boots should be made of rubber or waterproof plastic because other materials such as canvas, cloth, and leather can absorb the pesticide and hold it against the skin, thus increasing the exposure period rather than providing protection. Gloves with an absorbent lining, such as the one seen here on the left, should be avoided for the same reason. Check your gloves for leaks before putting them on. Gloves with holes are useless and must be replaced. If you're making a ground application, make sure your gloves are inside your sleeves so that runoff from the spray can't get inside the gloves and contaminate your hands. But for overhead spraying, keep the gloves over the sleeves to avoid arm contamination. Pant legs should be outside the boots so that the pesticides can't get on your feet. Goggles or a face shield should always be used when the possibility of eye contamination exists. If there is a danger of breathing pesticide vapors or dust, wear a respirator. Most respirators have replaceable cartridge type filters. These should be replaced after eight hours of use or sooner if you begin to smell the pesticide while wearing the respirator. Facial hair, such as sideburns and beards, do not permit the respirator to form an adequate seal against the face. So those who use respirators must be clean shaven. Protective clothing and equipment must be washed after each use, leaving gloves on to avoid hand contamination. When everything else has been cleaned, wash the gloves before taking them off. Wash your hands thoroughly. Then shower using plenty of soap and water. Clothing should be washed after each exposure to pesticides. Launder it separately from the family wash and rinse the machine afterwards. Keep in mind that when you handle pesticides, your hands become contaminated so never smoke, eat or drink while working with pesticides. Always wash your hands before putting anything in your mouth. If you work regularly as a flagger, mixer, loader or applicator of certain types of highly or moderately poisonous pesticides, you must be given periodic blood tests. The blood contains a substance called cholinesterase, which plays an important role in the functioning of the nervous system. Many pesticides can reduce the level of cholinesterase in the blood. To make sure that this is not occurring, mixers, loaders, applicators and flaggers who work with certain pesticides on a regular basis must have their cholinesterase level checked periodically. The employer must arrange these tests with a physician. The first sample should be drawn before the worker starts to handle pesticides. This allows the doctor to determine the level of cholinesterase normally present in that person's blood. The doctor decides how often thereafter the worker must return for additional analyses. If a blood test shows a reduced cholinesterase level, the affected worker should stop working with pesticides and do something else until his normal level becomes re-established. Pickers, pruners, planters and others not working directly with pesticides normally do not need this blood test. One last thing which we will talk about is the importance of the label found on every pesticide container. The label tells you how toxic the product is, what protective clothing and equipment are needed, what use precautions must be taken, what to do in case of an accident and other important safety information. Therefore, it is essential that you read the label before using any pesticide. Since the majority of labels are written only in English, anyone who is handling pesticides and doesn't read English should get someone to explain the labels. No one should handle a pesticide without knowing what the label says. All pesticides are classified according to how harmful they are to people. The most dangerous materials fall into category one. The moderately poisonous pesticides are in category two and the least toxic pesticides belong in category three. Each category has its own signal word which lets the user know how dangerous the pesticide is. Category one materials have the signal word danger and sometimes the word poison accompanied by a skull and crossbones. The signal word for category two pesticides is warning. Category three materials have the signal word caution. Remember that when pesticides are used carelessly, the results can be disastrous. But if they are used in accordance with safety precautions, they can continue to be one of the most valuable tools in agriculture and will continue playing their important role in producing food for people.