A preliminary investigation of aerosol exposure associated with operation of the ICI Electrodyn Crop Sprayer

The principal aim of this investigation was to relate the amount of pesticide material inhaled by an operator to that delivered from his hand-held electrodynamic crop spraying device. The ‘operator’ in this case was a full size tailor’s mannequin fitted with a nasal filtration unit which was connected to a ‘breathing machine’. Determination of the amount of material inspired during a given spraying period was by fluorimetric analysis of the amount of the Uvitex-B tracer dye contained in the formulation collected on the nasal filter. Both calm and moving air situations have been investigated, the latter in a large wind tunnel. In calm air the inspired material amounted to about 10.4% of the total volume sprayed. In moving air (wind speed, 3 ms-1), the amount of material inspired during downwind spraying (the recommended orientation) was too low to be assessed by the methods used, but was established as being less than 2.5 x 10.6% of the total volume sprayed in any period.Assessment of the correlation between the results obtained for several different types of personal sampling devices and the inspired volume was also undertaken. The results in terms of the mean [and standard deviations] of the sampling ratio (amount collected on sampler/amount inspired) for the three sampler types tested in calm air were 0.74[0.25], 0.60[0.26] and 0.30[0.17] respectively. In the case of downwind spraying, the amounts collected were again too low for analysis.Data relating to the distribution of dermal exposure was also collected during spraying by clothing the dummy operative in a two-piece overall. These overalls were despatched for analysis elsewhere and the assessment of exposure by this route does not form part of the work reported here. “”