Pesticide-related Health Risk Prevalence among Farmland Communities in the Selected Municipalities of Bukidnon, the Philippines

The Philippine economy relies heavily on agriculture, but pest attacks have led to low crop productivity. Consequently, farmers have turned to using pesticides as a solution, and their use has been linked to harmful health outcomes. Calculating the frequency of symptoms associated with pesticide exposure is, therefore, critical for risk assessment and the creation of successful preventative measures. To gather information, a survey was conducted in selected municipalities in Bukidnon, the Philippines, involving 411 respondents. Results revealed that 50% of respondents were farmers, with 48.1% having direct pesticide exposure and 51.9% having no direct exposure. When using pesticides, the farmers reported improper work habits like spills while spraying (90.9%), spraying against the wind (77.8%), re-entering recently sprayed area (71.7%), wiping sweat with contaminated clothing (66.7%), and spills while mixing and loading pesticides (65.7%). The majority of insecticides used by farmers (55%) were classified as highly hazardous (II) (53%), moderately hazardous (III) (19%), extremely hazardous (Ib) (13%), or unlikely to present an acute hazard (U) (16%). In terms of health symptoms related to pesticide exposure, farmers reported significantly having more eye, ear, nose, and throat (EENT), general, neurologic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, cardiovascular, and integumentary symptoms than non-farmers. Furthermore, muscle pain (63.64%), weakness (74.75%), fatigue (88.89%), eye redness (32.32%), eye itchiness (32.32%), confusion (33.33%), difficulty in breathing (21.21%), and profuse sweating (53.54%) were more significant among directly exposed farmers. Farmers may experience symptoms due to pesticide misuse – suggesting less hazardous alternatives, proper training, and emphasized PPE in all farming tasks.