pesticide use and opportunities of exposure among farmers and their families cross-sectional studies 1998-2006 from hebron governorate, occupied palestinian territory农药的使用和机会接触的农民和他们的家庭的横断面研究从希伯伦省1998 - 2006年,巴勒斯坦被占领土.pdfVIP

Issa et al. Environmental Health 2010, 9:63 /content/9/1/63 RESEARCH Open Access Pesticide use and opportunities of exposure among farmers and their families: cross-sectional studies 1998-2006 from Hebron governorate, occupied Palestinian territory 1,2,3* 1,2,4 2 1,5 1,6 Yaser Issa , Farid Abu Sham’a , Khaldoun Nijem , Espen Bjertness , Petter Kristensen Abstract Background: Adverse health effects caused by pesticide exposure have been reported in occupied Palestinian territory and the world at large. The objective of this paper is to compare patterns of pesticide use in Beit-U’mmar village, West Bank, between 1998 and 2006. Methods: We studied two populations in Beit-U’mmar village, comprised of: 1) 61 male farmers and their wives in 1998 and 2) 250 male farmers in 2006. Both populations completed a structured interview, which included questions about socio-demographic factors, types of farming tasks, as well as compounds, quantities, and handling of pesticides. Using the 1998 population as a reference, we applied generalized linear regression models (GLM) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) in order to estimate prevalence differences (PD) between the two populations. Results: In 1998, farmers used 47 formulated pesticides on their crops. In 2006, 16 of these pesticides were still in use, including five internationally banned compounds. There were positive changes with less use of large quantities of pesticides (40 units/year) (PD -51; CI -0.60, -0.43), in applying the recommended dosage of pesticides (PD +0.57; CI +0.48, +0.68) and complying with the safety period (PD +0.89; CI+0.83, +0.95). Changes also included farmers’ habits while applying pesticides, such as less smoking (PD -0.20; CI-0.3