Indicators of Genotoxicity in Farmers and Laborers of Ecological and Conventional Banana Plantations in Ecuador

Hans-Peter Hutter, Michael Poteser, Kathrin Lemmerer, Peter Wallner, Shifra Shahraki Sanavi, Michael Kundi, Hanns Moshammer and Lisbeth Weitensfelder
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Hans-Peter Hutter: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Michael Poteser: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Kathrin Lemmerer: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Peter Wallner: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Shifra Shahraki Sanavi: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Michael Kundi: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Hanns Moshammer: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Lisbeth Weitensfelder: Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: Banana farming represents an important segment of agricultural production in Ecuador. The health of farmworkers might be compromised by the extensive use of pesticides in plantations applied under poorly regulated conditions. Due to an increased awareness of pesticide-related problems for nature, as well as for worker and consumer health, ecological farming has been established in some plantations of Ecuador. We set out to investigate the occupational health of workers in both conventional and ecological farming. Nuclear anomalies in buccal epithelial cells were used as short-term indicators for genotoxicity and a potentially increased cancer risk in the two groups of farmworkers. By application of the Buccal Micronucleus Cytome Assay (BMCA), we found the frequency of micronuclei in conventional pesticide using farmworkers significantly increased by 2.6-fold, and other nuclear anomalies significantly increased by 24% to 80% (except pyknosis with a non-significant increase of 11%) compared to the farmworkers on ecological plantations. These results demonstrate that ecological farming may provide an alternative to extensive pesticide use with significantly reduced indicators of cancer risk. In conventional farming, improvements in education and instruction regarding the safe handling of pesticides and protective equipment, as well as regulatory measures, are urgently needed.

Keywords: banana farming; occupational health; pesticides; pesticide sprayers; genotoxicity; cytotoxicity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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