Real-Time Particle Monitoring of Pesticide Drift from an Axial Fan Airblast Orchard Sprayer

Details

• Personal Author:
  Austin E ; Blanco MN ; Fenske RA ; Kasner EJ ; Seto E ; Yost MG
• Description:
  In Washington State, a majority of reported pesticide-related illnesses and application-related complaints involve drift. We employed real-time particle monitors (Dylos) during a series of experimental spray events investigating drift. Sections of an orchard block were randomly sprayed by an axial fan airblast sprayer, while monitors sampled particulate matter above and below the canopy at various downwind locations. We found elevated particle mass concentrations (PMC) at all distances (16-74 m). The 75th percentile PMC while spraying was significantly greater than the control periods by 107 (95% CI 94-121) ug/m3, after adjusting for sampler height and wind speed. The 75th percentile PMC below the canopy was significantly greater than above the canopy by 9.4 (95% CI 5.2-12) ug/m3, after adjusting for spraying and wind speed. In a restricted analysis of the spray events, the 75th percentile PMC significantly decreased by 2.6 (95% CI -3.2 to -1.7) ug/m3 for every additional meter away from the edge of the spray quadrant, after adjusting for canopy height and wind speed. Our results were consistent with a larger study that performed passive sampling during the same spray events, suggesting that real-time monitoring can be used as a screening tool for pesticide drift. Compared with traditional methods of drift sampling, real-time monitoring is overall an easily employed, affordable sampling technique, and it can provide minute-by-minute measurements that can be coupled with meteorological measurements to better understand how changes in wind speed and direction affect drift. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Air Pollution Environmental Monitoring Insecticides Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Air Flow Air Quality Monitoring Author Keywords: Pesticides Empirical Models Environmental Monitoring Exposure Modeling Particulate Matter Particulates Pesticides And Agricultural Chemicals Sampling Methods Spraying Operations Statistical Models

  More +
• ISSN:
  1559-0631
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  397-405
• Volume:
  29
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055195
• Citation:
  J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2019 Apr; 29(3):397-405
• Contact Point Address:
  Magali N. Blanco, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
• Email:
  magali@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7bc5bb5800873a9a7a5a791bfc4476ff78c73ba3eee5873b6fc9f52493e3133242af7c361dc53e96dbb789ad41c7fde60e4fb4011f9b773790cd333963a27e7a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/217552/cdc_217552_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.07 MB ]