4.4.3 Risk assessment analysis
According to risk determination, only one farmer was at risk for hand dermal
contact to Chlorpyrifos, whereas all farmers were at risk to hand dermal contact to
Profenofos. It is within expectation as the dermal absorption of Profenofos is 50%
versus 3% for Chlorpyrifos. However, when the farmers applied both pesticides, they
are all at risk to the mixtures of these two pesticides. Since the sample size is very
small, binary regression analysis cannot be carried out as originally proposed. By the
same token, since all 14 farmers are all at risk from Chlorpyrifos and Profenofos hand
dermal contact, test of association cannot performed either. In view fo f these, the
hazard of indices with repect to the farmers‘ pesticide exposure years and working
patterns are briefly discussed. The hazard indices obtained are shown in figure 13,