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06/52 - Intossicazioni acute da antiparassitari rilevate in Italia nel 2004.A cura di Laura Settimi e Ida Marcello2006, 26 p.
Acute pesticide related illnesses in Italy, 2004.
Edited by Laura Settimi and Ida Marcello
2006, 26 p. (in Italian)
The In 2004 the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (the Italian National Institute for Health) implemented a surveillance program to assess acute pesticide-related illnesses. During the first year of activity, the collaborating Poison Control Centres notified 480 cases unintentionally exposed to agricultural pesticides and 149 cases unintentionally exposed to non agricultural pesticides. Among acute agricultural pesticide-related illnesses about 76% were male and individuals older than 15 years were 94%. About 57% of all exposures occurred at work and 35% at home. Severity for these illnesses was low for most (79%), moderate for 20% and high for two cases. The active ingredients responsible for the largest number of cases were methomyl (54), glyphosate (34), dimethoate (29), copper sulphate (25) and copper oxychloride (21). Two episodes of collective environmental exposure (involving eight individuals each) were also reported. The chemicals involved in these episodes were 1,3-dichloropropene and acrinathrin, respectively. Some 64% of the exposures occurred between May and September. The cases unintentionally exposed to non agricultural pesticides were evenly split between males (44%) and females (49%). The majority of these cases (91%) were exposed at home and about 37% of them were aged less than 6 years. Most of the illnesses were of low severity (91%) and no cases of high severity were reported. Insecticides were responsible for 79% of all the illnesses. The active ingredients more frequently reported were propoxur (24 cases), pyrethrins and pyrethoids (23 cases), and N,N-dietil-m-toluammide (21 cases). About 69% of the exposures occurred between June and September.
Key words: Agricultural pesticides, Non-agricultural pesticides, Illnesses, Surveillance
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