ACUTE PESTICIDE POISONING AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS AND FARMWORKERS
Case study 3 Georgia Country: Georgia Partner organisation: EcoLife Year conducted: 2016 Number of participants: 920 (448 men, 472 women) Location: Kvemo Kartli Description of participants: Participants were adult farmers and farm workers from the target area. Respondents were selected to give a reasonable representation of men, women, farmers, farm workers and people for whom Georgian is not their first language so that adequate comparisons could be made between the different groups in terms of risk of pesticide exposure and poisoning. Protective equipment: Just 2 respondents (0.2%) reported wearing protective coveralls when using pesticides. The vast majority simply reported wearing ordinary non-protective clothes. In addition, 37% farm workers reported wearing boots and 27% gloves. However, it was difficult to determine how protective these items were. They were often sourced at builders’ merchants and not necessarily designed to protect from chemicals. Just 3% farmers and 4% farm workers reported having had any training in the last decade on the use of protective equipment when handling pesticides. This may be an important factor in the extremely low use of PPE. In addition, summer temperatures are high in Georgia, making wearing masks and overalls hot and uncomfortable.
Photo: A picture of face masks on sale in Georgia in 2016 where protective equipment was rarely found on sale with pesticides and, when it was, it was usually not of a type that would provide suitable protection. Credit: PAN UK
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