Efectos colinesterasicos y contaminación del agua causados por el uso de plaguicidas en zonas agrícolas del cantón Santa Isabel

Abstract

Approximately 86% of the inhabitants of Dandan, Lunduma and Tugula, in Canton Santa Isabel belonging to the province of Azuay, is engaged in agriculture, and its activities are exposed to different pesticides. The objectives were to determine cholinesterase levels of farmers, the possible contamination of drinking water and irrigation pesticides and identify the different pesticides applied in the area. Surveys and interviews were conducted to farmers and retailers of agrochemicals, blood sampling and analysis to determine cholinesterase, as well as sampling and analysis of water to establish pesticide residues. Among the pesticides used are organophosphates and carbamates. 4.39% of the farmers cholinesterase values were lower than the normal cholinesterase, 1.09% exceeded the normal level, while 94.52% were among the normal range (4 659 to 14 443 U / L). There is no significant inverse relationship (P 0.180> 0.05) between cholinesterase and exposure, ie as exposure increases cholinesterase tends to decrease and vice versa. A similar correlation was found between cholinesterase levels and age of farmers. Cholinesterase levels between male and female gender is statistically similar, as are the averages of cholinesterase among the group of farmers and people engaged in other economic activities (P> 0.05). These results lead us to conclude that exposure to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides affect on cholinesterase levels of farmers in the study, with a tendency to decrease. Laboratory tests did not detect pesticide residues in samples of water for human consumption and irrigation, but these results are not conclusive, so it is suggested that future research on this topic.