Worker reentry safety. IX. Techniques of determining safe reentry intervals for organophosphate-treated cotton fields

Abstract

Several circumstances have revealed a need for better appraisal of the hazard incurred by workers who reenter cotton fields recently treated with pesticides: (1) the increased use of parathions and other organophosphate insecticides on cotton as substitutes for DDT, (2) the rapid expansion of cotton pest-management programs involving large numbers of cotton checkers, and (3) a lack of human exposure information for establishing reentry intervals. A “reentry interval” is the waiting period required to protect field workers from possible poisoning when they enter pesticide-treated fields. Reentry information on treated fields is needed essentially for workers who are intimately associated with the foliage of maturing cotton for extended periods, e.g., cotton insect field checkers (cotton scouts), hoe crews, and scientists. Irrigators and tractor drivers are the only other personnel entering fields and they do not normally contact cotton foliage. Cotton scouts, by reason of their direct contact with cotton foliage, in field after field, for up to 10 hr of intermittent exposure/day and approaching 40 hr/week, become the principal concern in establishing safe reentry intervals for cotton.

Contribution to Regional Project W-45, “Residues of Selected Pesticides and Related Chemicals in the Agricultural Environment—Their Nature, Distribution, Persistence, and Toxicological Implications.” Ag. Expt. Sta. #2286.