What are the symptoms of pesticide poisoning?

Plant protection products, better known as agrochemicals or pesticides, are all of those products, natural or synthetic, which are designed to discourage any harmful organism from hindering the healthy development of crops. In some cases these products can cause serious health problems and even death.

Pesticides can enter your body during mixing, applying, or clean-up operations. There are generally three ways a chemical or material can enter the body:  through the skin (dermal), through the lungs (inhalation), or by mouth (ingestion).

Plant protection products can result in two types of poisoning, acute or chronic:

• Acute poisoning is the severe poisoning which occurs after exposure to a single dose of pesticide. The appearance of symptoms may be sudden and dramatic or they may be delayed The symptoms are rather common and include nausea, vomiting, watery eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, convulsions, breathing difficulties and in some cases coma or death as well.
• Chronic poisoning, is the poisoning which occurs as a result of repeated, small, non-lethal doses over a long period of time and entails irreversible harm to the body, such as nerve damage, gene alteration and cancer in various organs.

In order to avoid or at least limit occupational pesticide poisoning, users of these products ought to be provided with the Personal Protective Equipment, i.e. devices and training that will enable workers to protect themselves from the risks to which they are exposed.

Can Personal Protective Equipment protect against pesticide poisoning?

Protective equipment is personal and may be worn only by the worker to whom the specific  equipment has been assigned. Personal protective equipment includes:

• protective suit – waterproof and breathable in order to ensure the protection of the body and prevent pesticide contact with the skin;
• face mask, fitted with the appropriate filters to ensure protection of the eyes and respiratory tract.
• gloves, – waterproof, resistant to tear and acid substances.
• boots  – waterproof, robust and resistant to acids.
• i filtri, – different types depending on the type of protection required and on the mask to which they are to be fitted. Filters are colour coded according to the chemical substances they protect against and need to be replaced whenever the smell of the chemical substance used is perceived inside the mask.

Kasco srl offers different types of Personal Protective Devices for the protection of workers when using pesticides.