Pesticides Use in Rural Settings in Romania

The environment pollution with pesticides and heavy metals is a recognized problem nowadays, with extension to the global scale the tendency of amplification. Even with all the progress in the environmental field, both in the emphasize of the effect of the pollutants upon health, the linked studies environment-health are insufficient, not only in Romania but all over the world also. We aim to describe the particular situation in Romania regarding the uncontrolled use of pesticides, to identify and evaluate the risk zones for health and the environment in Romania, with the final goal of designing adequate programs for reduction and control of the risk sources. An exploratory study was conducted to determine the magnitude of the pesticide use problem in a population living in Saliste, a rural setting in Transylvania, Romania. The significant stakeholders in Saliste region were interviewed and a sample from the population living in Saliste area was selected to fill in a designed questionnaire. All the selected participants declared that they used pesticides in their activities for more than one purpose. They declared they annually applied pesticides for a period of time between 11 and 30 years, from 5 to 9 days per year on average, mainly on crops situated at some distance from the houses but high risk behavior was identified as the volunteers declared the use of pesticides in the backyard gardens, near their homes, where children were playing. The pesticide applicators did not have the necessary knowledge about safety and exposure. The health data must be correlated with exposure biomarkers in attempt to identify the possible health effects of the pesticides exposure. Future plans include educational campaigns to raise the awareness of the population on the danger of uncontrolled use of pesticides.

Authors:

• Anca E. Gurzau
• Alexandru Coman
• Eugen S. Gurzau
• Marinela Penes
• Daniela Dumitrescu
• DorinMarchean
• Ioan Chera

Keywords:

• Pesticides
• health effects
• Romania
• Saliste.

References:

[1] Alavanja, M. C., Sandler, D. P., McDonnell, C. J., Lynch, C. F.,
Pennybacker, M., Zahm, S. H., Mage, D. T., Steen, W. C., Wintersteen,
W., Blair, A. (1999). Characteristics of pesticide use in a pesticide
applicator cohort: the Agricultural Health Study. Environ Res, 80(2 Pt
1), 172-179.
[2] Alavanja, M. C., Sandler, D. P., McMaster, S. B., Zahm, S. H.,
McDonnell, C. J., Lynch, C. F., Pennybacker, M., Rothman, N.,
Dosemeci, M., Bond, A. E., Blair, A. (1996). The Agricultural Health
Study. Environ Health Perspect, 104(4), 362-369.
[3] BERRY C., 2000. The realities of pesticide use. Pest Manag.Sci., 56 (11):
947-949.
[4] BOTTRELL D.R. 1980. Integrated Pest Management. Washington, 120
pp.
[5] BRAR D.S., KHUSH G.S., 1993. Applicatiobn of biotechnology in
integrated pest management. J.Insect Sci., 6 (1): 7-14.
[6] CAMBERS D.L., 1977. Quallitty control in mass rearing.
Annu.Rev.Entomol., 22:289-308
[7] CIOCHIA V., ISAC GR., STAN GH., 1993. tehnologii de cre┼ƒtere industrialâ
a c├ótorva specii de insecte auxiliare folosite ├«n combaterea biologicâ a
dâunâtorilor. Ed. Ceres, Bucure┼ƒti.
[8] COBB P.P., 1997. Biorational suppression of pests in landscapes.
J.Agric.Entomol., 14 (3): 333-337.
[9] Coble J, Arbuckle T, Lee W, Alavanja M, Dosemeci M. (2005). The
Validation of a Pesticide Exposure Algorithm Using Biological
Monitoring Results. Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Hygiene, 2: 194-201.
[10] Kirrane EF, Hoppin JA, Umbach DM, Samanic C, Sandler DP. (2004).
Patterns of pesticide use and their determinants among wives of farmer
pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. J Occup Environ
Med, 46(8):856-65.
[11] Samanic C, Hoppin JA, Lubin JH, Blair A, Alavanja MCR. (2005).
Factor Analysis of pesticide use patterns among pesticide applicators in
the Agricultural Health Study. Journal of Exposure Analysis and
Environmental Epidemiology: 15 (3), 225-233.
[12] White KE, Hoppin JA (2004). Seed treatment and its implication for
fungicide exposure assessment. Journal of Exposure Analysis and
Environmental Epidemiology, 14(3): 195-203.