Pesticide risk assessment: A study on inhalation and dermal exposure to 2,4-D and paraquat among Malaysian paddy farmers

A cross-section analytical study was conducted to evaluate the risk of pesticide exposure to those applying the Class II pesticides 2,4-D and paraquat in the paddy-growing areas of Kerian, Perak, Malaysia. It investigated the influence of weather on exposure as well as documented health problems commonly related to pesticide exposure. Potential inhalation and dermal exposure for 140 paddy farmers (handlers of pesticides) were assessed. Results showed that while temperature and humidity affected exposure, windspeed had the strongest impact on pesticide exposure via inhalation. However, the degree of exposure to both herbicides via inhalation was below the permissible exposure limits set by United States National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Dermal Exposure Assessment Method (DREAM) readings showed that dermal exposure with manual spraying ranged from moderate to high. With motorized sprayers, however, the level of dermal exposure ranged from low to moderate. Dermal exposure was significantly negatively correlated with the usage of protective clothing. Various types of deleterious health effects were detected among users of manual knapsack sprayers. Long-term spraying activities were positively correlated with increasing levels of the gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) liver enzyme. The type of spraying equipment, usage of proper protective clothing and adherence to correct spraying practices were found to be the most important factors influencing the degree of pesticide exposure among those applying pesticides.     

Challenges of soil erosion and sludge management for sustainable development in Indonesia

Most developing countries, particularly Indonesia, will be facing problems of sludge pressure in the next decades due to the increase in practices of legal and illegal logging as well as land and water demands. Consequently, they will also be facing the challenges of soil erosion and sludge management due to increased quantities of sludge coming from several potential sources, such as activated sludge, chemical sludge, fecal sludge and solid wastes as well as erosion and sedimentation. Although the government of Indonesia has enacted laws and policies to speed up the implementation of the programs and activities related to sludge management, the detailed practice concepts in implementing the programs need to be identified. Discussion of role-sharing amongst the related government agencies, private institutions and other stakeholders is urgent for clarifying the participation of each party in the next years to come. This paper proposes a management approach and level of responsibilities in sludge management. Implementation of zero ΔQ, zero ΔS and zero ΔP policies needs to be adopted by local and central governments. Application of sludge on the agricultural lands and other uses will promote sustainable development.     

The antiproliferative and apoptotic potential of Clinacanthus nutans against human breast cancer cells through targeted apoptosis pathway

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Clinacanthus nutans dichloromethane fraction (CN-Dcm) extract has previously been proven to suppress breast cancer (MCF7) cell proliferation. Despite...     

Lean,agile, resilient,and green human resource management: the impact on organizational innovation and organizational performance

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - There are four paradigms of lean, agile, resilient, and green (LARG) which can promote human resource culture to create novel ideas and increase...     

Non-conforming fibre-reinforced green polypropylene composite panels: a case study

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Coal Bottom Ash (CBA) is one of the byproducts of the coal combustion process in power plants that accumulates in landfills due to its porous,...     

Passive aerated in-vessel composting of food waste with the addition of Sabah ragi for campus sustainability: mass balance,dwarf crape jasmine growth and techno-economic study

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Composting is a sustainable solution on campus for waste management as it is essential for achieving the ideal circular economy. This study aims to...     

Analytical solutions of contaminant transport in homogeneous and isotropic aquifer in three-dimensional groundwater flow

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Modeling three-dimensional contaminant transport released from arbitrary shape source geometries is useful in hydrological and environmental sciences....     

Feature selection approaches for predictive modelling of cadmium sources and pollution levels in water springs

The World Health Organization lists cadmium (Cd) as one of the top ten chemicals of public health concern. Cd is toxic at relatively low exposure levels and has acute and chronic effects on both health and the environment. In this study, we investigate a suite of data-driven methods that could assist decision-makers in estimating Cd levels in water springs, and in identifying polluting sources. Machine learning (ML) regression models were used to identify sources of contamination and predict Cd levels based on support vector machines and a variety of tree-based models, including Random Forests, M5Tree, CatBoost, and gradient boosting. Feature selection analysis revealed that heavy traffic and distance to a major power plant in the sampled area play a leading role in springs Cd contamination, together with precipitation levels and average of slopes of the closest waste dumps upstream to sampled springs. Our best performing ML model was the Adaboost regression tree using all the features (RMSE = 19.36, R^2 = 0.64). Our findings highlight the effectiveness of predictive data-driven modeling in addressing environmental challenges, particularly in high-risk areas with low resources.