A research project funded by the Fr

A research project funded by the French agency for
environmental and occupational survey and safety (Afsset,
now Anses) has as its general objective the methodological
development of an integrated method for estimation of
occupational exposure to pesticides of non-agricultural
professionals. This method will combine the use of
methods for measurement of individual exposure, and
research on exposure biomarkers and of exposure scenarios.
This project was realised in Angers (France) on occupationally
exposed agents of two territorial organizations and
an unexposed reference group from the same area. Angers
is situated in the “Pays de la Loire” region (France), where,
in 2000, approximately 70 tons of active pesticide
substances were used by non-agricultural public companies
and services. Town councils are the main users with 72% of
the total amount of pesticides. Among the variety of
pesticides, glyphosate, diuron, and aminotriazole represent
60% of the total quantities