Pesticides and agricultural work environments in Argentina

Abstract

This chapter offers a comparative analysis of two widely different agricultural settings (extensive and horticultural crops) and characterizes the pesticide applicator populations in each, including the health conditions associated with occupational pesticide use. We introduce two pesticide exposure assessment proposals, consisting of intensity and accumulated exposure indexes for both scenarios. The proposals include new results about the pesticide applicators of extensive crops, including an update of the differential characteristics of worker populations in homogeneous ecological areas of the province. We also introduce a new scenario consisting of horticultural smallholders and farmworkers, and describe their working conditions. The study and comparison of these different work settings allows us to tailor the exposure indexes developed in our previous publication [10] to the particular pesticide exposure of greenbelt situations, as well as to develop proposals for preventive measures for the reduction of human exposure and environmental impact, according to each scenario.