Pesticide exposure of residents living near sprayed fields

IOM will shortly begin a research study to assess exposure to pesticides for adults and children living close to agricultural land during the spraying season.

The use of pesticides and their possible effects on health gives rise to much public concern and discussion. In 2005, The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) published a report on “Crop spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders” . In their report the RCEP advocated a more precautionary policy in this area, based on the assumption that it was reasonable to assume that pesticide exposure could cause chronic ill-health to residents and other bystanders. The Commission recommended the use of buffer zones, notification of residents before spraying and a re-evaluation of current risk models. The Government has responded to these recommendations, but as part of their continued commitment to gather scientific data to inform policy they have commissioned IOM and our collaborators to undertake an extensive study of pesticide exposure of people living near agricultural land.

In a previous study we found that pesticide exposure of sprayers, farmers and other farm workers was low and very unlikely to result in any adverse health effects. In contrast, for bystanders, the exposures were higher than the regulators had assumed when assessing the safety of these substances. Unfortunately, only a small number of bystanders were studied and so it was difficult to draw firm conclusions about whether the risks for these groups are unacceptable. Further fieldwork was needed to better understand potential exposure of people living close to sprayed fields to determine whether or not the current regulatory risk assessments are appropriate for bystanders and residents.

The research will start with a pilot study to test and refine the recruitment and data collection procedures. Over the next two years, surveys will be carried out in three regions in the UK (East Lothian, Kent and East Anglia) during two spraying seasons. This is to allow us to collect sufficient data in a variety of situations to get a reliable assessment of the pesticide exposures.

The project is a collaborative study between the IOM, the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) and the School of Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University. Further information on the project can be found at our website http://www.pesticidebiomonitoring.org/