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Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania
BACKGROUND: Approximately 300 pesticide retailers are currently registered in Tanzania. Inadequate knowledge and unsafe handling practices among retailers may contribute to human pesticide exposure and environmental contamination. This study investigated pesticide retailers’ qualifications, work exp...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271478/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25287148 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-13-79 |
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author | Lekei, Elikana E Ngowi, Aiwerasia V London, Leslie |
author_facet | Lekei, Elikana E Ngowi, Aiwerasia V London, Leslie |
author_sort | Lekei, Elikana E |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Approximately 300 pesticide retailers are currently registered in Tanzania. Inadequate knowledge and unsafe handling practices among retailers may contribute to human pesticide exposure and environmental contamination. This study investigated pesticide retailers’ qualifications, work experience, safety practices and the products distributed so as to identify opportunities for preventing Acute Pesticide Poisoning (APP). METHODOLOGY: In 2005, employees of pesticide retail firms in six Tanzanian towns were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire and physical inspection of premises. In addition, information on products distributed in 2004 and 2005 was collected from Arusha and Arumeru firms to assess potential risk posed for end-users. RESULTS: More than half of the participating firms (58.6%) were not registered. Most agents on sale in Arusha and Arumeru were hazardous products including WHO Class I and II products (61.7%) and the mean number of cholinesterase inhibiting agents was 5.8 (range 2–8). Major deficiencies found included semi-trained staff (52%), lack of first-aid kits (38.6%), repacking and decanting of pesticides into smaller unlabelled containers (25.3%), lack of fire-fighting equipment (22.6%) and distribution of unregistered products (9.3%). Compared to unregistered companies, those companies that were registered were more likely to report practicing safe container disposal (40% versus 19%; p = 0.06) and to have an absence of leaking containers (36% versus 15%; p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Pesticide distribution in Tanzania was accompanied by many unsafe practices that may contribute to the burden from APP, not only affecting the distributors but also farmers who buy and use these products. Market pressures appear to be encouraging decanting of pesticides to enable retailers to make profits. Registration of firms appears to be associated with safer practices. Comprehensive interventions to strengthen enforcement mechanisms by increasing the number of pesticide inspectors, ensuring adequate financial support for enforcement activities and providing training opportunities for pesticide retailers and the end users are strongly recommended. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4271478 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42714782014-12-20 Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania Lekei, Elikana E Ngowi, Aiwerasia V London, Leslie Environ Health Research BACKGROUND: Approximately 300 pesticide retailers are currently registered in Tanzania. Inadequate knowledge and unsafe handling practices among retailers may contribute to human pesticide exposure and environmental contamination. This study investigated pesticide retailers’ qualifications, work experience, safety practices and the products distributed so as to identify opportunities for preventing Acute Pesticide Poisoning (APP). METHODOLOGY: In 2005, employees of pesticide retail firms in six Tanzanian towns were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire and physical inspection of premises. In addition, information on products distributed in 2004 and 2005 was collected from Arusha and Arumeru firms to assess potential risk posed for end-users. RESULTS: More than half of the participating firms (58.6%) were not registered. Most agents on sale in Arusha and Arumeru were hazardous products including WHO Class I and II products (61.7%) and the mean number of cholinesterase inhibiting agents was 5.8 (range 2–8). Major deficiencies found included semi-trained staff (52%), lack of first-aid kits (38.6%), repacking and decanting of pesticides into smaller unlabelled containers (25.3%), lack of fire-fighting equipment (22.6%) and distribution of unregistered products (9.3%). Compared to unregistered companies, those companies that were registered were more likely to report practicing safe container disposal (40% versus 19%; p = 0.06) and to have an absence of leaking containers (36% versus 15%; p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Pesticide distribution in Tanzania was accompanied by many unsafe practices that may contribute to the burden from APP, not only affecting the distributors but also farmers who buy and use these products. Market pressures appear to be encouraging decanting of pesticides to enable retailers to make profits. Registration of firms appears to be associated with safer practices. Comprehensive interventions to strengthen enforcement mechanisms by increasing the number of pesticide inspectors, ensuring adequate financial support for enforcement activities and providing training opportunities for pesticide retailers and the end users are strongly recommended. BioMed Central 2014-10-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4271478/ /pubmed/25287148 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-13-79 Text en © Lekei et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Lekei, Elikana E Ngowi, Aiwerasia V London, Leslie Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title | Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title_full | Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title_fullStr | Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title_full_unstemmed | Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title_short | Pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of Tanzania |
title_sort | pesticide retailers’ knowledge and handling practices in selected towns of tanzania |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271478/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25287148 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-13-79 |
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