Potential operator exposure to procymidone in greenhouses

Recent legislation in the European Union requires regulators of member stat es to carry out risk assessments using data for actual or potential operato r exposure, or estimates of exposure from models. However, the existing mod els have few datasets from studies carried out on greenhouse or indoor crop s, particularly in southern Europe. In this study potential dermal and inha latory exposures were measured in two trials in Italian greenhouses. The to tal potential dermal operator exposure of the applicator, measured with a w hole-body passive dosimetry method, was 15.4 and 37.1 mL/h of the diluted p esticide mixture. The majority of the contamination was on the hands and on the lower part of the coverall. Approximately 0.003% of the active ingredi ent (ai) applied to the crop area contaminated the coverall worn by the ope rator. The potential dermal exposure during the mixing and loading phase ac counted for 6-8% of the total potential dermal exposure during the whole pr ocess. Inhalation exposure accounted for only 0.05-0.07% of the total poten tial operator exposure. Model predictions of the potential operator exposur e using a modified version of the German model overestimate the mixing-load ing exposure while underestimating the application exposure. These data are evidence that the estimation coefficient set for hand-held application to ornamental and horticultural crops may be inadequate for the agronomic cond itions of southern Europe.