• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.77-82
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• 2004

Backgrounds: Deaths from pesticides poisoning has increased annually, but no studies have been reported. Especially paraquat is suspected to be a major material in pesticide poisoning deaths. In Korea, simple epidemiology of pesticides poisoning is not well known. So, there is no effective method to prevent pesticides poisoning. We tried to investigate the present status of pesticides poisoning with data from Korea National Statistical Office and suggest an effective counterplan. Methods: We analysed death cause data derived from Korean Statistical association, deaths causes being pesticides poisoning in the year 2002. Also, we investigated data from internet, mainly from Korea National Statistical Office home page. Results: Total 2,875 persons died after pesticides poisoning in 2002 year. Average age is 54.2 year, standard deviation being 17.7 year. Many victims (about $41\%$) died during the herbicides' non-necessary period (JanuaryMarch, October-December) Conclusion: Herbicides sale should be restricted only during herbicides' necessary period, and so called a pesticides safety supervisor system shall effectively prevent herbicides poisoning.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.22-28
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• 1976

It has been well known that indiscriminative use of pesticides contaminates water resources and soil to break down the balance of natural ecosystem and brings acute when spray. In this country, 62,602 tons of pesticides were used in 1974 for agricultural purpose figuring 28.0 kg per hectare which showed 20% increasement every year since 1970. It is almost impossible to figure out incidence and mortality of acute pesticide poisoning exactly. However, a survey in 1974 reported that 33.5% of male and 32.7% of female who sprayed certain pesticides complained of several symptoms seemed to be due to acute pesticide poisoning. It also mentioned that the main cause inducing poisoning supposedly was dusting without protective armamation such as masks, booths, gloves and others in more than 60% of above cases. Pesticide poisoning through contamination of food or direct inhalation and contact. With the reason, the followings can be recommended to minimize or prevent pesticide hazards. 1. Strict legal control 2. Systematic education on the safe handling way of pesticides for the people who are to use them. 3. Remarkable warning at transportation and stocking of pesticides. 4. Obligatory attachment of explanation on the package about effect, safe handling method, and. emergency care at acute pesticide poisoning concerned.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.18-26
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• 1984

With the increase of using pesticides, pesticide poisonings become more frequent. In the previous epidemiological study on pesticide poisoning and the reports of the authorities concerned, it is carefully affirmed that pesticide poisonings are caused by farmers' ignorance and negligence in using the pesticides. But the pesticide poisoning should be taken into account in terms of the person who sprays the pesticides, its spraying process, farming style and farmers' socio-economic conditions. And based on the understanding mentioned above, preventive measures for pesticide poisoning should be established. In this socio-medical point of view, this study examined the public health problems caused by using pesticides and the treatment of pesticide poisoning, based on the interviews with farmers in a area of Kyunggi-Do about the spraying process of pesticides, poisoning experiences and its treatments. The results are as follows ; 1) The style of spraying pesticides in the target area is mostly an individual one, not cooperative one. And the subjects of spraying are householders, whose educational backgrounds are beneath notice. More than 2~5 of the subjects are women or old men of 60 years old or so. These are seen to derive from the socio-economic status of Korean agricultural families; their younger generation's moving to greater cities and their petty farming styles. 2) As for the safety measures for the spraying of pesticides, those which have nothing to do with the economic, problems such as efficient spraying and productivity, are well obeyed. On the other hand, some safety measures as the use of safety devices, and spraying time, the degree of dilution of pesticides and the spraying method In windy days, are not obeyed very well, for to keep those makes spraying difficult to do and productivity worse. These facts indicate that the safety measures for using pesticides must be directly concerned with the spraying process, farming style and farmers' socio economic status, rather than the subject's knowledge or carefulness. 3) Even In cases of poisoning they do rarely consult the doctors. This is caused by the problem of their locality and transportation since one should pass away a day even in the busiest season to consult doctors, and by their low socio-economic status. 4) The epidemiological studies on pesticide poisonings should be necessarily led to a socio-medical one which are concerned together with the spraying process of pesticides, farming style, farmer's socio-economic status and discrepancies in public health policies between agricultural communities and urban ones.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Purpose: Hemoperfusion is an effective modality of extracorporeal elimination of toxins in acutely poisoned patients. We evaluated the effect of hemoperfusion on plasma concentration of toxins in patients exposed to certain pesticides. Methods: Eleven patients who were acutely exposed to pesticides participated in our study. We measured plasma pesticide concentration from the whole blood obtained by arterial and venous sources by gas chromatography. Results: The plasma concentrations of only 3 patients was measured. Methidation clearance by hemoperfusion was 82.2%, fenitrothion was 23%, and endosulfan was 0% Conclusion: Measurement of plasma organophosphate concentration is not a practical application. Our results suggest that hemoperfusion is applicable in patients with pesticide intoxication according to clinical status.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제50권3호
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• pp.197-203
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• 2010

Pesticides are useful to eliminate harmful insects and grow crops however, misuse and abuse of pesticides may cause a death of wild birds, livestock, and companion animals. We analyzed residual pesticides in the ingesta and tissues from the dead wild birds, livestock, and companion animals which were suspected pesticide poisoning based on the diagnosis of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Center of National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS). The samples were primarily brought to NVRQS from local communities and veterinary diagnostic laboratories. The 231 suspicious samples of pesticide poisoning based on the necropsy were analyzed by GC/NPD, GC/FPD, GC/ECD, or GC/MSD in 2008 and 2009. Pesticides were identified from the 55 samples of total 143 samples analyzed in 2008 and from the 34 samples of total 88 samples analyzed in 2009. The pesticide identification rates in 2008 were higher than the rates in 2009. It may have relevance to the increased samples with the outbreak of avian influenza in 2008 in Korea. The concentrations of pesticides found in the dead animals varied and exceeded the respective $LD_{50}$ of pesticides in many cases. Monochrotophos, phosphamidon, and methomyl were the most common pesticides found and those pesticides are high rank sales in Korea. The cause of pesticide poisoning in animal is assuming a misuse and an abuse of commonly used pesticides in Korea.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.22-28
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• 2011

This study aimed to determine the feasibility of survey questionnaires for pesticide poisoning. We conducted a pilot study to develop a questionnaire for evaluating pesticide poisoning symptoms and to examine the validity of self-reported information for individual pesticides used. In December 2010 we interviewed 20 farmers with self-reported pesticide poisoning histories residing in Gyeonggi Province. For validity of pesticide information, the purchased pesticide lists from the agricultural cooperative federation were compared with individual self-reported pesticides used. Neurological symptoms were the most common among clinical symptoms related to pesticide poisoning, followed by gastrointestinal, dermal and eye symptoms. Insecticides were the main causative pesticide class for poisoning. Twenty one major symptoms were selected for screening for acute pesticide poisoning in a field study based on the pilot results and literature reviews. Substantial under-reporting was found in data on self-reported individual pesticides used (9.2%), as well as low accuracy (36%) compared with their actual purchase lists. In this pilot study, we suggest the selected symptom lists may apply to a field survey of pesticide poisoning. However, the self-reported information on individual pesticides may not be valid and alternative methods need to be developed.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.65-71
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the cause of acute fatal poisoning and the time of death by analyzing the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) of South Korea. Methods: The NEDIS data from 2014 to 2018 excluding non-medical visits were used for this study. The patients with acute poisoning were extracted using diagnostic codes. The toxic substances were classified into pharmaceuticals, pesticides, gases, artificial poisonous substances, and natural toxic substances. Patients were classified according to the time of death, place of death, and region. In each case, the most causative substances of poisoning were identified. Results: There were 380,531 patients including poisoning-related diagnoses, of which 4,148 (1.1%) died, and the WHO age-standardized mortality rate was 4.8 per 100,000. Analysis of 2,702 death patients whose primary diagnosis was acute poisoning, the most common cause of poisoning death was pesticides (62%), followed by therapeutic drugs, gas, and artificial toxic substances. Herbicides were the most common pesticides at 64.5%. The proportion of mortality by time, hyperacute (<6 h) 27.9%, acute (6-24 h) 32.6%, subacute (1-7 d) 29.7%, and delayed period (>7 d) were 9.8%. Conclusion: This study suggests that the most common cause of poisoning death was pesticides, and 60% of deaths occurred within 24 hours. The 71% of mortality from pesticides occurred within 6-24 hours, but mortality from gas was mostly within 6 hours. According to the geographic region, the primary cause of poisoning death was varied to pesticides or pharmaceuticals.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.193-203
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• 2008

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of acute poisoning cases admitted to a local emergency department in an urban-rural area. Methods: This retrospective study included all patients with acute poisoning who admitted the emergency department between June 2004 and May 2005. We analyzed the medical records for etiological and demographical characteristics of the acutely poisoned patients. Results: There were 155(1.0%) poisoning cases among 15,457 admitted to the emergency department. Of the admitted cases, 51.0% were female and 49.0% male. The poisoning made a peak in the age range of 30-39 and over 60. The seasonal distribution in poisoning patients suggested a peak in spring(38.1%) and summer(24.5%). The majority of exposures(95.5%) occurred in patient's home, 81.8% were deliberate. The most common agents of acute poisoning in deliberate causes were drugs(p<0.01). All of deliberate cases were suicidal attempts. The most common poisoning cases were pesticides in male, but in female were medications(p<0.01). Overall mortality rate of total cases were 12.9%. The overall mortality rate was higher in male(p<0.05), increasing age(p<0.05) and intentional ingestion(p<0.05), pesticides poisoning(p<0.05). Conclusions: The study forms a foundation for future work on poisoning epidemiology which hopefully will facilitate the allocation of preventive services in order to reduce the incidence as well as morbidity and mortality of toxic exposures.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.13-24
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• 1981

This study was conducted with 478 farm households located in Pyongtaek Gun of Gyonggi Do, Chongju City and Chongwon Gun of Chung Buk Do, and Hongchon Gun of Gangwon Do for the period of 10, September through 20, October 1980. It dealt with general features of the farmhouseholds, their practices of handling and using pescides, and relationship between safe use of pesticides and poisoning experiences. The results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. Of the total, 63.2% purchased pesticides mainly through the Agricultural Coops, and 95.4% transported them home separately from other goods. 2 Pesticides were sold contained mainly in glass bottles and paper bags. 3. Mixing of the respodents (87.5%) stored pesticides in sheds, warehouses and boxes. 4. Mixing containers and measuring tools were not used by the majority of the group studied. This indicates that there exist serious problems of safety and accuracy with regard to use of pesticides. 5. As to pesticide protective devices, gloves, respirators, goggles and boots were not used in general. Even in case of using them, their quality was not satisfactory. 6. Among the interviewees, 4.2% did not read pesticide label, 33.9% did not wash immediately when pesticide was spilled on the skin, 48.4% did not care the wind direction during pesticide application, and 17.0% did not wash hands when smoking a cigarette while pesticide is being handled. 7. Of the total, 40.4% were found to harvest vegetables within 10 days from the date of pesticide application, which indicates their unawareness of possible hazards by pesticide residues. 8. Empty pesticide containers or bags were not properly disposed of by majority of the respondents. Furthermore, impacts on the environment by the misuse or abuse of pesticides were not understood by 67.6% 9. Of the interviewees, 48.7% were found to have not received instructions on safe use of pesticides. 10. The rate of pesticidal poisoning experience was about 28.0% if minor symptoms excluded, and it rose to about 44.0% if included. Meanwhile, the rate of pesticidal poisoning tends to increase with the size of farm. 11. The study failed to show a statistically significant relationship between the rate of pesticidal poisoning and use of mixing container and/or measuring tools. However, use of gloves showed a statistical significance on the rate of pesticidal poisoning. 12. Among the poisoned cases, 19.0% were cared for in either hospitals or clinics.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.16-24
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• 2008

Purpose: There has been no nationwide surveillance survey of poisoning cases in Korea. This study examined the clinical characteristics of poisoning admissions in order to obtain preliminary data for future planning. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the data on poisoning admissions of 150 hospitals based on the hospital discharge injury surveillance data of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Korea from January to December in 2004. The demographic data, poisons used, causes of poisoning, reasons for attempted suicide and mortality rate was investigated according to the age group. The factors associated with mortality were also evaluated. Results: A total 836 patients admitted for poisoning were analyzed. Their mean age was $46.5{\pm}19.5$ years (male 415, female 421). The most frequent age group was the 4th and 5th decades. The most common poisons involved were pesticides (45%) and medications (23%). The majority (64%) involved intentional poisoning except for those in the 1st decade. The most common reason for the attempted suicide was family problems. However, individual disease was the most common reason in those over 60 years. The overall mortality rate was 8.7% (73/836). Pesticides and being elderly (over 65 years old) were strongly correlated with fatality. Conclusion: The incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade making it a preventable injury. "Overall, the incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade". Therefore, there is a need to frame a prevention policy corresponding to each factor related to fatality, such as an elderly population and pesticides.