Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA.
Washington State Department of Health, Tumwater, WA, USA.
Environ Health. 2021 Mar 15;20(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12940-021-00693-3.
Pesticides play an important role in protecting the food supply and the public's health from pests and diseases. By their nature, pesticides can be toxic to unintended target organisms. Changing winds contribute to pesticide drift- the off-target movement of pesticides-and can result in occupational and bystander illness.
We systematically linked historical weather data to documented pesticide drift illnesses. We used Washington State Department of Health data to identify 252 drift events that included 690 confirmed cases of illness from 2000 to 2015. To characterize wind speed and direction at the time of the events, we paired these data with meteorological data from a network of 171 state weather stations. We report descriptive statistics and the spatio-temporal extent of drift events and compare applicator-reported weather conditions to those from nearby meteorological stations.
Most drift events occurred in tree fruit (151/252 = 60%). Ground spraying and aerial applications accounted for 68% and 23% of events, respectively; 69% of confirmed cases were workers, and 31% were bystanders. Confirmed cases were highest in 2014 (129) from 22 events. Complete applicator spray records were available for 57 drift events (23%). Average applicator-reported wind speeds were about 0.9 m •sec (2 mi •hr) lower than corresponding speeds from the nearest weather station values.
Drift events result from a complex array of factors in the agricultural setting. We used known spatio-temporal aspects of drift and historical weather data to characterize these events, but additional research is needed to put our findings into practice. Particularly critical for this analysis is more accurate and complete information about location, time, wind speed, and wind direction. Our findings can be incorporated into new training materials to improve the practice of pesticide application and for better documentation of spray drift events. A precision agriculture approach offers technological solutions that simplify the task of tracking pesticide spraying and weather conditions. Public health investigators will benefit from improved meteorological data and accurate application records. Growers, applicators, and surrounding communities will also benefit from the explanatory and predictive potential of wind ramping studies.
农药在保护食物供应和公众健康免受病虫害方面发挥着重要作用。农药本质上对非目标生物具有毒性。风向的变化导致了农药飘移——农药的非目标移动，并可能导致职业和旁观者患病。
我们系统地将历史气象数据与记录的农药飘移病联系起来。我们使用华盛顿州卫生部的数据，从 2000 年至 2015 年确定了 252 起飘移事件，其中包括 690 例确诊病例。为了描述事件发生时的风速和风向，我们将这些数据与来自 171 个州气象站网络的气象数据进行配对。我们报告了飘移事件的描述性统计数据和时空范围，并将报告员报告的天气条件与附近气象站的条件进行了比较。
大多数飘移事件发生在核果（151/252=60%）中。地面喷雾和空中喷雾分别占事件的 68%和 23%；69%的确诊病例是工人，31%是旁观者。2014 年有 22 起事件发生了 129 例确诊病例，是确诊病例数最高的一年。有 57 起飘移事件（23%）可提供完整的报告员喷雾记录。平均报告员报告的风速比最近气象站值低约 0.9m•sec（2mi•hr）。
飘移事件是农业环境中一系列复杂因素造成的。我们使用已知的飘移时空方面和历史气象数据来描述这些事件，但需要进一步的研究将我们的发现付诸实践。对于这种分析来说，特别关键的是关于位置、时间、风速和风向的更准确和完整的信息。我们的发现可以纳入新的培训材料中，以改进农药应用实践，并更好地记录喷雾飘移事件。精准农业方法提供了简化跟踪农药喷洒和天气条件任务的技术解决方案。公共卫生调查人员将从改进的气象数据和准确的应用记录中受益。种植者、施药者和周围社区也将从风级研究的解释和预测潜力中受益。
