It's not a problem. You'll be very hard pressed to find an ag pilot who's ever been sick from chemical.How do you guys lay down that carcinogenic stuff day after day and not die young? I know the passes are made progressively upwind, but I'd fear the toxins more than the low-altitude flying.
How do we dispense economic poison and not get sick? We don't breathe it or act stupidly. Simply because you can smell it doesn't mean you're being poisoned by it, and you can't compare what you smelled in a wrecked airplane to what a working pilot experiences in an intact airplane. If you walk into a Co-Op to buy chemical, you're going to smell it there, too...doesn't mean you're being poisoned by carcinogens.
There would be no point.Has anybody done a toxicology profile of ag pilots?
When working with organophosphates such as Parathion, Malathion, etc, some operators have traditionally had a cholinesterase blood workup done at the start of the season. I've had it done myself, and in my opinion, it's a wise thing to do. This isn't a toxicology test, it's a baseline test to establish what the cholinesterase level is for an individual, and this is used to determine emergency medical treatment for organophosphate poisoning.
Way back when, it as common to keep a jar of atropine tablets handy, for some operators (we had some). Some felt that in a poisoning situation, a rapid oral dose of atropine was in order. It's dangerous because the treatment for organophosphate poisoning is a lethal dose of atropine, followed by a lethal dose of protopam chloride (2-pam) to counteract the atropine, then treatment for 2pam poisoning. (The military used the same thing using two injection needles, for organophosphate poisoning during chemical warfare...you shoot yourself up with the atropine, and someone else shoots you up with the protopam after).
If one has a known cholinesterase level, then emergency medical services can administer accurate dosages to counteract the poisoning, and will know given a new cholinesterase test exactly what level of poisoning has occurred. That's the only reason for the test. It's simply a precaution.
(If you saw the movie The Rock, with Sean Connery, the green stuff in the little glass spheres would have been an organophosphate, and describe somewhat the poisoning process...it's an interruption of the chemical which allows control over one's nervous system, and interrupts certain functions like the heart, lungs, etc. Chemicals such as Vx and later products fit this category in chemical warfare, and in application are at much higher dosages than commercial pesticides. However, in concentration (such as how it's received in the barrell), chemicals such as 9 lb parathion are highly lethal: a drop on your tongue will kill you).
The secret is to not contaminate yourself in handling, mixing or application. Chemical poisoning is the least of my worries when performing ag work.
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