Distributions and Determinants of Pre-Emergent Herbicide Exposures Among Custom Applicators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Deddens JA ; Hines CJ ; Hornung, Richard W. ; Tucker, Samuel P.
• Description:
  Custom applicators intensively apply herbicides to corn and soybean fields each spring. The primary objective of this study was to characterize the exposure distributions of the herbicides alachlor, atrazine, 2,4-D 2-ethylhexyl ester (2,4-D EH), and metolachlor among a group of applicators during the spring pre-emergent spray season. A secondary objective was to evaluate determinants of exposure and to estimate within- and between-worker variance components. Fifteen applicators were sampled using a systematic design that included spray and non-spray days and multiple measurements (five to seven) on each applicator. Air, patch, and handwash samples were collected on 89 applicator-days. Applicator-days were classified into three categories: target herbicide sprayed, non-target herbicide sprayed, and no herbicide sprayed. Mixed-model regression analysis was used. For all exposure metrics, adjusted mean herbicide exposures were significantly higher on days when target herbicides were sprayed as compared to non-spray days. For 2,4-D EH only, adjusted mean exposures on non-target herbicide spray days were significantly higher than on non-spray days. Wearing gloves significantly reduced adjusted mean hand exposure for all herbicides (4-20 fold) and adjusted mean thigh exposure for three herbicides (8-53 fold) on days the herbicides were sprayed; however, wearing gloves significantly increased adjusted mean atrazine hand and thigh exposures (9 and 7 fold, respectively) on days that non-atrazine herbicides were sprayed. Few of the other covariates were consistent determinants of exposure. For all exposure metrics, the within-worker variability (GSD(W) 2.1-5.6) was greater than the between-worker variability (GSD(B) 1.2-2.7). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Herbicides Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  2,4-D Alachlor Author Keywords: Atrazine Determinants Of Exposure Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Exposure Assessment Metolachlor Mixed-models Models Sampling Variance Components Work-environment

  More +
• ISSN:
  0003-4878
• Publisher:
  Elsevier Science Ltd
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  227-239
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021748
• Citation:
  Ann Occup Hyg 2001 Apr; 45(3):227-239
• Contact Point Address:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
• Email:
  cjh8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d60576a5af380d2ef957c4afec82542962e469a289758ce31ab1a84dcbb734b94c8bbbd7d3db2cbb0322d492d7eccacc5ae69ad1880a1f081d602d44397c3e58
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198857/cdc_198857_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 149.92 KB ]