Exposure to fungicides in fruit growing: Re entry time as a predictor for dermal exposure

As par? of a European Concerted Action on Male Reproduction Capability an e xposure assessment survey was conducted among seasonal workers in the fruit growing sector in the Netherlands. Dermal exposure to the fungicides capta n and tolylfluanid was measured using cotton gloves (12 persons) and skin p ads on several body parts (12 persons). In addition, a set of exposure data was used from a study conducted recently among Dutch fruit growers, For ha rvesting activities, re-entry time appeared to be an important determinant of dermal exposure to captan and tolylfluanid, Explained variance of regres sion models was moderate to high (range 0.30-0.87). For captan, calculated half-life times from the most recent exposure survey were lower (glove data : 5 days; pad data: 6 days) compared with half-life times based on the prev iously conducted study (11 days). Possible explanations for the discrepancy are discussed. For tolylfluanid, estimated half-life times during harvesti ng were 2 and 3 days, based on pad and glove data, respectively, Prediction of captan exposure during other crop activities appeared to be far more di fficult (explained variance equal to 0.06), although the estimated half-lif e time was comparable with that for harvesting. The data suggest that re-en try time gives useful information to group workers in broad exposure catego ries, Nonetheless, it was concluded that large studies are needed to evalua te the importance of re-entry time in more detail.