PATRÓN DE USO DE PLAGUICIDAS Y BIOMARCADORES BIOQUÍMICOS EN UNA POBLACIÓN DE FUMIGADORES URBANOS

Nayarit is among the states with the highest rates of pesticide poisoning in Mexico. Sprayers are a vulnerable population due to the high risk of exposure that their job entails. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the current usage pattern of pesticides in fumigation activities, cholinesterases and paraoxonase activities in urban sprays in two different period of times. A descriptive and analytical study was conducted, structured questionnaires were applied to evaluate the anthropometric characteristics of workers involved in the fumigation, the use of personal protective equipment, the perception of risk and the pesticide pattern used. The enzymatic activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and paraoxonase 1 using two substrates (PON1-AREase and PON1-CMPAase) were performed by spectrophotometric methods. The results indicate that males more often performs these kind of works and that 95.1% of the sprayers do not use the recommended personal protective equipment. The most commonly used pesticides are organophosphorus insecticides, followed by pyrethroids and carbamates, among others. Respect to enzymatic activities, a lower activity of BuChE and AREase were observed in the first period of the study. Our results suggest that there is a need to implement strategies of environmental education aimed at reducing the pesticides exposure, and the potential adverse effects caused by the improper pesticide handling.