Probabilistic Exposure Assessment for Applicators during Treatment of the Fungicide Kresoxim-methyl on an Apple Orchard by a Speed Sprayer

Probabilistic exposure and risk assessment of kresoxim-methyl were conducted for agricultural applicators during preparation of spray suspension and application with a speed sprayer on an apple orchard. The preparation and application of 1000 L of spray suspension were repeated 30 times. Several exposure matrices, including patches, cotton gloves, socks, masks, and XAD-2 resin, were used to measure the potential exposure for workers. The analytical methods were fully validated to guarantee the precision and accuracy of analysis. The exposure amount on hands for mixer/loader was 0.7 mg [95% confidence interval (CI) from 0.02 to 2.4], taking 0.0005% (95% CI from 1.2 × 10^-5 to 0.001) of total prepared active ingredient. During application of kresoxim-methyl, the amount of dermal exposure was 17.5 mg (95% CI from 9.3 to 28.9), corresponding to 0.010% (95% CI from 0.006 to 0.017) of total applied active ingredient. The major exposure parts of the body were thighs and shins, with correlation coefficients of 0.53 and 0.43, respectively. The inhalation exposure during application were estimated as 6.8 ng (95% CI from 0.4 to 17.0), being 0.04% (95% CI from 0.004 to 0.06) of the dermal exposure. The calculated absorbable quantities of exposures for mixer/loader and applicator were 2.1 × 10^-4 mg/day (95% CI from 5.0 × 10^-6 to 7.2 × 10^-4) and 2.3 mg/day (95% CI from 1.2 to 3.8), respectively. For risk assessment, the margin of safety of all working activities was much higher than 1, indicating that the possibility of risk to kresoxim-methyl was unlikely.