• Shabab Nasir

• Muhammad Sajid

• Faisal Maqbool Zahid

• Muhammad Naveed Anjum

• Naveed Ahmad Khan

• Irfan Ashraf

• Bushra Saddiq

• Bilal Ahmad

• Waqas Bashir

• Shahid Mehmood

Abstract

This research aimed to study the effects of organophosphate insecticides on biochemical parameters of small farmers who were engaged in the mixing and spraying of pesticides in Punjab, Pakistan. In this context, blood samples of 110 farmers, having similar socio-economic position, in the cotton and mango belt of Rahimyar Khan (RYK), Punjab, Pakistan were collected to detect the levels of the acetyl-cholinesterase, glutathione, and lipid peroxidation in the blood samples of both groups (pesticide exposed and unexposed controls). All of the selected farmers were also interviewed about age, social interests, habits (smoking), genetic diseases, education, marital status, occupation, spraying experience, types of pesticides, use of personal protection equipment, and diseases. The descriptive results of socioeconomic factors were presented in terms of means ± SD, and non-parametric chi-squared test was used to test their association with case-control groups. Student t-test and ANOVA were used to compare the enzymes between and within groups respectively. The mean level for all enzymes was significantly higher in exposed group with p-values <0.001. The impact of all enzymes was different on the farmers in exposed group with p-value <0.001. The farmers were most affected with glutathione. Based on the findings of this study, it is strongly recommended that the rural health workers should visit the farmers regularly to monitor their health conditions. Furthermore, the local governing authorities must send their social mobilizers (SMs) to fields in order to promote the importance of self and environmental protection measures.

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