Risk Assessment and Cholinesterase Monitoring for workers exposed to Plant Protection Products in Locust Control in Niger Illyassou Karimoun Massalatchi1,2, Illa Mamane1, Adamou Rabani1,*, Maitournam Aboubacar3, Baoua Abdou4 1Université Abdou Moumouni, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Département de Chimie, Laboratoire de Matériaux, Eau et Environment (LAMEE), BP, 10662, Niamey, Niger 2Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech/ULg, Laboratoire de Phytopharmacie, Passage des Déportés 2, Gembloux, 5030, Belgium 3Université Abdou Moumouni, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Département de Maths-Informatique, Niamey, Niger 4Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne, Niamey/Niger *Corresponding Author E-mail: rabadamou@gmail.com
Online published on 7 July, 2018. Abstract Plant protection products are designed to fight against pests. Nevertheless, their misuses can have negative impacts both on human health and environment. In the present paper, according to the local practices, UK Predictive Operator Exposure Model (UK-POEM) was used to quantify the Potential Dermal Exposure (DPE) during mixing/loading and application processes of workers involved in locust control in Niger. Then, a spectrophotometric method using a device Kit Test Mate model 400 was used in situ to monitor their acetylcholinesterase (Ache) inhibition rate. The preliminary investigation has shown that organophosphate and pyrethroid are the most common active substances insecticides used. The predictive model results demonstrate that, the exposure levels vary from 0.1626 mg/kg bw/day to 9.4656 mg/kg bw/day for operators using a hand-held sprayer and from 0.1112 mg/kg bw/day to 6.4757 mg/kg bw/day for operators using a vehicle mounted sprayer. These values are several times higher than the Acceptable Operator Exposure Level (AOEL) for all active substances: 315 to 5540 times for handheld sprayer and 92 to 4637 for vehicle mounted sprayer. Ache measurements before and after plant protection products handling have revealed that, sixty-seven percent (67%) of agents involved in locust control had their cholinesterase level lower than the normal, with an inhibition rate varying from 32 to 94%; confirming predictive UK-POEM results. Application of combined predictive model and Ache inhibition method in risk assessment show clearly the needs to drastically reduce locust control agents exposure to pesticides in Niger and other Sahel countries. Top Keywords Plant protection products, locust control, Cholinesterase, UK-POEM, , Niger. Top |