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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1470276
This article is part of the Research Topic Food Safety - Pesticide Residues in Foods and Potential Consumer Risk View all articles

Assessment of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning (UAPP) amongst smallholder vegetable farmers in Trinidad and Jamaica

Provisionally accepted
Dwight E. Robinson Dwight E. Robinson 1Alexander M. Stuart Alexander M. Stuart 2*Sheila Willis Sheila Willis 2Joey P. Salmon Joey P. Salmon 2Jeet Ramjattan Jeet Ramjattan 3Wayne Ganpat Wayne Ganpat 3Stephanie Williamson Stephanie Williamson 2Keith F. Tyrell Keith F. Tyrell 2Duraisamy Saravanakumar Duraisamy Saravanakumar 3
  • 1 Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, The University of West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
  • 2 Pesticide Action Network UK, Brighton, United Kingdom
  • 3 Faculty of Food and Agriculture, The University of the West Indies St. Augustine, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Poisoning caused by pesticides is widely recognised as a major public health problem amongst smallholder farmers and rural communities, including in the Caribbean. However, a lack of quality data impedes understanding of the problem and hampers the development of effective strategies for its management. To better understand the prevalence of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning (UAPP) in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica and the pesticides and practices involved, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 197 and 330 vegetable farmers in Trinidad and Jamaica, respectively. The findings from this study revealed a high incidence of self-reported health effects from occupational pesticide exposure, with 48% and 16% of respondents, respectively, experiencing symptoms of UAPP within the previous 12 months. Furthermore, the substantial proportion of UAPP incidents were associated with a few highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), particularly lambda-cyhalothrin, acetamiprid, and profenofos in Jamaica, and alpha-cypermethrin, paraquat and lambda-cyhalothrin in Trinidad. Given the well-documented adverse effects of these chemicals on human health, the results of this study should be of significant concern to health authorities in Jamaica and Trinidad. This clearly indicates an urgent need for improved regulation and safer alternatives to the use of HHPs, as well as the promotion of alternatives. We provide policy recommendations and identify alternatives to HHPs for tropical vegetable production.

    Keywords: Acetamiprid, Alpha-cypermethrin, alternatives, highly hazardous pesticides, Paraquat, personal protective equipment (PPE), pesticide exposure, Profenofos

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Robinson, Stuart, Willis, Salmon, Ramjattan, Ganpat, Williamson, Tyrell and Saravanakumar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alexander M. Stuart, Pesticide Action Network UK, Brighton, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.