Early one morning in March 1999, Trinidad began her usual shift as a cleaner in an elegant hotel in Barcelona where the rooms had been fumigated a few hours earlier without direct ventilation. The insecticides had contaminated the air and impregnated the soft furnishings in the building. More than a year later, Trinidad was still on sick leave and continued to suffer serious physical repercussions(2). Her health and life have been ruined, and along with another four colleagues, she now faces probable permanent employment disability. The incident in her hotel was just one of the 17 similar documented cases which have occurred in Catalan companies over the last decade.
Growing public health nightmare
‘This was a real nightmare’ reflects Neus Moreno, ‘since neither the social insurance companies nor the health protection agencies recognised the problem at first and it was a group of independent experts working together informally, who took it upon themselves to diagnose and treat the poisoning cases.’ Even the Catalan regional government was guilty of risky fumigation, with one person poisoned in 1997 in a centre belonging to the Education Department. ‘I’m sure there are many other cases in Spain but nobody outside Catalunya relates the use of pesticides in enclosed spaces, including houses, with ill health, much less with long term effects.’
Routine fumigation had become the norm in many public buildings until the rising number of exposure incidents rang alarm bells and prompted the authorities to take action. Media and political pressure from trade unions and two political parties, denouncing irregular and dangerous practice in urban pest control operations, finally led to the Catalan parliament’s approval in 2003 of a motion calling on the regional government to compile a report, within six months, on the advantages of integrated pest management (IPM) over conventional chemical strategies, and to disseminate this, in collaboration with local agencies, in workplaces and centres open to the public.
New guidance
The Environmental and Occupational Health section of the Catalan branch of Comisiones Obreras has been in the vanguard of initiatives to inform the public, decision makers and pest control personnel about the hazards of indoor insecticide application and to develop strict protocols to prevent further poisonings. During 2001-02 they worked with colleagues in the Barcelona City Labour and Social Security Inspectorate, the Regional Department of Health and Social Services, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Catalan Association of Pest Control and Pesticide Application Companies to produce detailed guidance on IPM for urban pest control. This resulted in the publication of two manuals, one for technical personnel of pest control companies and another for the client agencies that contract pest control services. The technical manual, which is also accessible via a tailor-made website, includes sections on how to ensure good coordination between the pest control company and the client organisation, programme components on initial inspections for pest problem diagnosis, designing and evaluating a control programme, a whole series of checklists, record-keeping forms and summaries of relevant legislation.
| Box 1 Selection criteria for integrated pest management options Criteria for selecting general control methods
Criteria for selecting chemical control methods
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Selection criteria and warning
Dissuading pest control companies and building managers from routine application of hazardous pesticides is the first step. Box 1 lists the criteria to be followed for selecting an appropriate pest control method and for choice of chemical when no alternative option is
feasible(3). Risk levels of low, moderate, high and very high are explained for chemical agents, based on hazard and exposure risk. Very high risk application options are not permitted except under exceptional circumstances and they require a special permit to be obtained by the user. These include pesticides classified as very toxic or toxic, in which the formulation or the application method implies general treatment with a potential risk of physical contact with or inhalation of liquids, gas or powder by workers or users of the building or application site. The toxicity criteria used are based on oral, dermal LD50 data and LC50 data for inhalation of air, established under Spanish Decree 162/1991.
Given the previous disregard for pesticide application safety measures and for informing building users of treatment operations, the manual and training activities stress the importance of full record-keeping, pre- and post-application hazard warnings and effective communication with all those at potential risk. Box 2 summarises the measures to be carried out by users before chemical application. Before treatment, information notices must be posted, visible from the point of entry into the treated area. The information has to include: operation start and finish dates and times; pictogrammes and signals specific to the advertised risk as well as the wording ‘Entry Prohibited’; instructions not to enter before a specified date/time; not to remove the notice; and details of where to obtain more information, including the telephone number for the local Office for Prevention of Occupational Risks.
Box 2 Obligatory pre-application measures
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Vigilance
The urban IPM initiative has set up a technical monitoring commission involving the different stakeholders, including the Catalan Association of Small and Medium Businesses and the Catalan regional government. Local bodies have now established their own protocols based on the generic guidelines, such as the Mollet del Vallès Municipal protocol for weed and pest control in public green spaces, including school and sports grounds and areas around municipal buildings. This protocol defines all the measures required for assessment and control of pests and weeds and makes clear the responsibilities of different players.
The key objective is to eliminate health risk to people. It applies to all weed control operations on public roads, open spaces, streets and municipal gardens within the Mollet municipality. For example, all phytosanitary treatments, whether carried out by a contracted company or municipal staff, must be undertaken in the presence of qualified personnel from the parks and gardens department, to make sure that actions comply with the protocol.
After treatment, the weed control company has to submit a report detailing location of all areas treated, application method and product used, date and time of treatment start and finish, name and signature of technical person in charge of the operation and treatment assessment and any relevant incidents. The report has to be accompanied by a treatment certificate chart with data on the company, application equipment used, plant species treated, herbicide product name and register number, dose and application volume, and any specific observations or comments. The maximum toxicological category permitted for use in public spaces is the third highest level (harmful). Only certified spray operators are permitted to apply herbicides and they must pass a medical examination and wear full personal protective equipment. Hazard signs warning the public are not obligatory.
Follow-up activities and challenges
Since the publication of the manuals, considerable training and information dissemination has taken place yet the challenge remains to achieve widespread adoption of urban IPM strategies throughout Catalunya, one of Spain’s most urbanised regions, and for the protocols to become standard practice. To this end, Comisiones Obreras and Friends of the Earth Barcelona organised a technical seminar for public sector staff on
Best European Practice in Control and Reduction of Pesticides and other Chemicals in November 2004, with support from the City Council and the Catalan Department of the Environment. With the help of PAN Europe, participants learnt about successful experiences and useful lessons from Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany before developing practical recommendations for reducing chemical exposure in urban and rural environments and for public participation in hazard reduction and the promotion of safer alternatives.
References
1. Obiols Quinto J and López Crespi F, Pesticides: risk in interior applications in buildings (in Spanish) Nota Técnica 595 de Prevención del Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, 1999.
2. An invisible enemy: six years of struggle against the use of pesticides in closed spaces, (in Spanish) Por Experiencia No.9, Boletin de Salud Laboral para Delegadas y Delegados de CC.OO, Instituto Sindical de Trabajo, Ambiente y Salud, 2000, www.istas.ccoo.es
3. Manual for implementation of integrated management of urban pests by pest control companies (in Catalan) Comisiones Obreras and ADEPAP, Barcelona, 2002.
4. Protocol of the Mollet del Vallès Town Council for Phytosanitary Treatment and Application of Herbicide Products (in Catalan), 1999.
The Urban IPM manual and other information is available in Catalan at
www.lluitaintegrada.com/
lluita/home.htm
Toni Oller and Neus Moreno can be contacted at Comisiones Obreras – Catalunya in Barcelona email
toller@conc.es, nmorenp@conc.es,
www.ccoo.es
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 67, March 2005, pages 8-9]