Effect of pesticide residues on health and different enzyme levels in the blood of farm workers from Gadap (rural area) Karachi—Pakistan

Azmi, Muhammad Ahmed; Naqvi, S. N. H.; Azmi, M. Arshad; Aslam, Muhammad

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.016

Cited by 115 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Only a few studies have been carried out on the pesticide applicators in Pakistan. A high frequency of pesticide poisoning among cotton farmers (Khan et al, 2000) and fruit farm workers in Gadap, Karachi, have been reported because of inadequate safety practice (Azmi et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Khan

Shabbir

Majid

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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Tobacco is an important cash crop of Pakistan. Pesticides are commonly used to increase the crop yield, but their health impact has not been studied yet. The objectives of the study were to determine the frequency of pesticide poisoning and to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) towards safety measures among the tobacco farmers in Swabi, Pakistan. One hundred and five tobacco farmers involved in pesticide application were randomly selected from two villages of district Swabi. A structured questionnaire was used for clinical and KAP information. Plasma cholinesterase (PChE) levels were measured by Ellman's method by using GD Italy kits. All tobacco farmers were males with a mean (SD) age of 26 (9) years. The majority of the farmers reported multiple symptoms headache, dizziness, vomiting, shortness of breath, muscle weakness and skin rash correlate with the clinically significant depression of PChE levels. Out of 105 pesticide applicators, 58 (55%) had post-exposure reduction in PChE levels o20% from baseline, 35 (33%) had mild poisoning (20-40% reduction) and 12 (11%) had moderate poisoning (440% reduction). Most of the farmers did not use any personal protective equipment during pesticide handling. Only a few used shoes (31%), masks (14%) and gloves (9%) during pesticide spray. In conclusion, the tobacco farmers had mild to moderate pesticide poisoning, which was correlated with depression in PChE levels. Moreover, most farmers had little knowledge about the safety measures, casual attitude and unsatisfactory safety practices with regard to the use of basic protective equipments during pesticide applications on the tobacco crop.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk assessment of pesticide exposure on health of Pakistani tobacco farmers

Khan

Shabbir

Majid

et al. 2009

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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“…Over the past two decades, surveys of plant families have discovered sources of new botanical insecticides, which could possibly meet some of this demand. For instance, the potential of neem products is being conducted internationally [1,8] and there is a general trend these days to reduce the risk to human life [9]. Accordingly, botanical insecticides based on natural compounds from plants, are expected to be a possible alternative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Larvicidal Activity of Some Botanical Extracts, Commercial Insecticides and their Binary Mixtures Against the Housefly, Musca Domestica L.

Mansour¹

2011

TOTNJ

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Following preliminary screening of 13 ethanolic plant extracts, belonging to 10 different families, a total of 11 extracts were subjected to detailed toxicity evaluation against the larval stage of the housefly, Musca domestica L. The larvicidal LC 50 values were < 100 ppm for Piper nigrum (50.1 ppm), Azadirachta indica (76.9 ppm), Conyza aegyptiaca (77.0 ppm) and Cichorium intybus (96.8 ppm); representing the highest potent extracts among the bioassayed candidates. Punica granatum extract exhibited the lowest toxicity (213.9 ppm). In comparison, commercial insecticides showed superior larvicidal toxicity; accounting to the following LC 50 values: 0.029, 0.03, 0.61 and 0.64 ppm for deltamethrin, methomyl, chlorpyrifos and flufenoxuron, respectively. Combining botanical extracts with insecticides, at equitoxic dosages (e.g., LC 25 values), induced potentiating effects for a 44 bioassayed mixtures against the housefly larvae. Moreover, mixing the insecticides at LC 0 (a concentration level causing no observed mortality) with the LC 50 of each of the plant extracts have resulted in 44 paired combinations. Mostly, the "synergistic factor; S.F." ranged between 1.6 -1.9; giving rise to high synergistic effects. Specifically, the synergistic effect was much pronounced for mixtures of the insecticide deltamethrin with different botanical extracts. Most of the tested toxicants induced different forms of developmental effects after exposure of 3 rd larval instars to sublethal concentrations (LC 25 ppm). Larvae treated with A. indica, Citrus aurantifolia, Eucalyptus globulus (leaves or fruits), P. granatum, Salix safsaf, Sonchus oleraceus, Zea mays, as well as the insecticides chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin and methomyl failed to develop into adult stages. Morphologically, there were different forms of pupal and adult abnormalities, where the treatments of P. granatum and S. oleraceus caused abnormal pupal size in addition to pupal-adult intermediate. In the resulted Musca domestica adults, the effects were seen as one-winged insects, small size, compressed body and abdomen elongation. Such deformations were attributed to treatments of C. intybus, C. aegyptiaca, Piper nigrum and the IGR flufenoxuron. The overall results of the present investigation reveal the broad-spectrum toxic properties of the tested plant extracts against Musca domestica larvae; which may encourage further research on housefly control in tropics using indigenous plants.

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“…Khan et al (2003) also investigated the inhibitory effect of pesticides in liver and kidney enzymes of Agama lizard. Similarly Azmi et al (2006) examined the enzymatic activities of GOT, GPT and ALP in pesticide exposed farm workers of Gadap area, Karachi. During investigation they found that most of the workers showed elevated levels of enzymes except in few cases.…”

Section: Pesticide Poisoningmentioning

confidence: 99%