Citation

Perry MJ, Marbella A, Layde PM. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2002; 41(1): 70-73.

Affiliation

Occupational Health Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. mperry@hsph.harvard.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11757057

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study measured compliance with pesticide-specific protective gear use requirements practiced by farmers applying pesticides to field crops. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and twenty randomly selected dairy farmers were interviewed 1 week after pesticide application to determine use of personal protective equipment while applying at least 1 of 15 possible restricted use pesticides (response rate = 82.4%). RESULTS: Among the three most common pesticides used (dicamba, atrazine, and cyanazine), the proportions of farmers fully complying with gear use requirements were 8.8, 8.6, and 2.5%, respectively. For those same pesticides, the proportions (and 95% CI) using none of the required gear were 56.9% (47.3-66.5%), 38.6% (27.2-50.0%), and 47.5%(32.0-63.0%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Both full and partial compliance with required personal protective equipment was low for each of the 15 chemicals applied by the applicators in this sample.