ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างการปนเปื้อนออร์แกโนฟอสเฟตในกระแสเลือดของเกษตรกรสวนผักกับความรู้และพฤติกรรมของเกษตรกรในจังหวัดร้อยเอ็ด ASSOCIATION OF ORGANOPHOSPHATE CONTAMINATION IN BLOOD OF VEGETABLE FARMERS WITH THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND BEHAVIOR IN ROI ET PROVINCE

Abstract

           Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that breaks down a neurotransmitter acetylcholine, prevents overstimulation of post-synaptic nerves and muscles. Organophosphates (OPPs) are AChE inhibitors widely used as pesticides in vegetable production. Thus, OPP contamination in vegetables entering human blood circulation can be toxic to neurological system. Purposes of this research were divided into 2 folds 1) to determine the level of AChE, an inverse biomarker enzyme for OPPs present in the blood of vegetable farmers and 2) to investigate association between the level of AChE with the level of knowledge and level of behavior on pesticide uses of vegetable farmers in a village of Roi Et province, Thailand. Forty-six subjects who have been working in vegetable farms were recruited. Basic demographic data showed that 100% of subjects used OPPs, but only 6.5% were certified with the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP). Most of them had high level of knowledge (90.7%) and behavior (81.4%) on pesticide uses. Blood samples were collected from ring finger tips with lancets and capillary tubes. A reactive paper finger-blood test (Bigg’s method) was used to measure AChE level. Results showed that 24 blood samples had normal level of AChE whereas the other 19 samples were abnormal. Pearson's chi-squared test was further used to determine an association between the levels of knowledge and behavior with the level of AChE. No association neither between the level of knowledge with blood AChE level in vegetable farmers (c² = 0.935, df = 3, p = 0.817) nor between the level of behavior and blood AChE level in vegetable farmers (c² = 5.303, df = 3, p = 0.151) was observed.  Lastly, an intervention program was employed to improve the farmer’s behavior according to the GAP for Food Crop and Pesticide Hazard Prevention Guidelines for 7 days and was found that their AChE tended to return to the normal level.