Two major differences in symptoms were the absence of skin irritation for phenoxyacetic herbicides (23% for all other herbicides) and the low proportion of find more headache mentions for bypridilium herbicides (33 vs. 55% for all other herbicides). Fig. 3 selleck chemical Symptoms reported by users who listed agrochemical products which had caused them health problems by pesticide group Fig. 4 Symptoms reported

by users who listed insecticides which had caused them health problems by insecticide group Fig. 5 Symptoms reported by users who listed fungicides which had caused them health problems by fungicide group Fig. 6 Symptoms reported by users who listed herbicides which had caused them health problems by herbicide group The frequency distributions of symptoms caused by pesticides in the three groups were significantly different (P = 0.001) and herbicides that users stated had caused them health problems were more likely to have caused problems

only once or rarely (51%) than fungicides (36%) or insecticides (40%). A high percentage of product reports mentioned at least one symptom that the user experienced every time that product was used (32%), but this fell to 24% when smell-related symptoms were excluded. After strong smell, itchy skin or rash was the symptom most likely to be experienced by a user every time that product was used. Synthetic pyrethroids and fungicides were the most likely to be associated with a sign or symptom every time used. The median number of incidents attributed to different types of pesticides were also significantly PF299 clinical trial different (P < 0.01) with herbicides having the lowest median. Discussion The survey was conducted primarily to gather information on KAP amongst groups of agrochemical users considered to be at highest risk of exposure. Nevertheless, it provides valuable information about health effects related to agrochemicals amongst users considered to be at the highest risk of exposure in a wide variety of geographical regions and about the products causing second health

problems. Information collected on health effects in the 2004 survey was not as comprehensive as that collected in 2005/2006 and consequently the analysis was restricted to the 2005/2006 surveys. The definition of a minor health incident was modified in 2006 because there were differences in the way it had been interpreted in different countries. The incidence of agrochemical-related incidents was higher in the 2006 survey than in 2005, but it did not appear to be a result of this change because there was a comparable increase in the incidence of serious and moderate incidents from 2005 to 2006 to that in minor incidents. The proportion of users who reported a minor incident at worst in 2006 was approximately five times higher than in 2005 (34.3 vs. 8.3%, respectively) but almost five times as many users reported a serious or moderate incident in 2006 as in 2005 (12.6 and 2.6%, respectively).