Ss21-05 Creation and Validation of a Tool for Preventive Risk Assessment in Agriculture

Introduction Doing pesticide risk assessment in agriculture is very complicated, and the most used tools, biological and environmental monitoring, give information regarding risk after application has been done and not before. Therebefore, there is the need of creating tools adequate to the purpose of preventive risk assessment in agricultural activities. In this frame, we have worked at the creation of a tool adequate for the purpose and usable directly by the workers before starting application. Materials and Methods We have created an algorithm which closely follows the source-receptor model that has been long tested in the German Model, in the EU-POEM and in the EFSA model, and uses numerical constants for the deposition rates of pesticides and for the protection efficiency of clothing that are derived from in field studies and we have collected in a targeted database the main physical and chemical characteristics of the pesticides used in Italy. Results Cross linking occupational exposure risk with pesticide hazard class allows describing the planned operation in a contingency table that identifies unacceptable working conditions of exposure to hazardous pesticides and progressively safer conditions, towards the optimal one of low exposure to relatively benign products. The system is running in an application which can be easily uploaded an any smart phone. Conclusions Our tool enables farmers to decide before application whether the planned activities pose an unacceptable risk or not, and helps in deciding the most appropriate risk management interventions. The risk estimates provided by the model are now being validated in targeted in field studies.