Long term exposure to chemicals

[suffolksmallholder]

I live in sunny Suffolk and consider this part of the UK to be part of the 'bread basket of Britain'. As the rain has eased, there has been lots of activity now the land has dried enough to be worked and various pieces of farming equipment have been trundling past here today. This includes the usual Bateman spraying machinery. This rang a bell to a story;
Local news has worked its way to me telling of a Farmer who was sitting in his, or a friends kitchen and felt pins and needles in his legs. This feeling persisted to the point where he no longer had the use of his legs. On visiting the hospital in Norwich was told by the consultant that the effect may, or not, pass and that it was probably down to long term exposure to chemicals.
Now I know that if those who have little to do with chemical spraying saw a man in his spray-mobile dressed in the required clothing (PA style), of white suit, mask, rubber boots and cloves, they would be seriously concerned about the concoction being applied to the crop at the time. So who ever wears this? Hence the catch 22 of possible long term exposure. I know Georgina Downs has raised this concern for those living near crops being sprayed. Perhaps this is a warning to all about the long term effects.
I have seen the bate-mobiles out in totally unsuitable weather and have wondered at the sanity of the operator. Who in their right ming tries to apply anything when the wind is gusting five on the Beaufort scale???
SS

 

[Dave Applesquasher]

Father and uncles were almost permanently spraying during their working lives.
No cabs and very little PPE, plus all the now banned chems.
No ill effects that I'm aware of, nor do I know of anyone else affected.

 

[puntabrava]

I know of a contractor who has lost two sprayer operators to leukaemia, one has been dead 25 years and the other 10, farm spraying was not on the same level as contractors until the last few years and now the safety and chemicals are better.

 

[Joseph]

I have seen the bate-mobiles out in totally unsuitable weather and have wondered at the sanity of the operator. Who in their right ming tries to apply anything when the wind is gusting five on the Beaufort scale???

They may well have been applying liquid nitrogen.

 

[Clive]

I have seen the bate-mobiles out in totally unsuitable weather and have wondered at the sanity of the operator. Who in their right ming tries to apply anything when the wind is gusting five on the Beaufort scale???

They may well have been applying liquid nitrogen.

Quite likely at the moment I would think

 

[grumpy]

my hands turned yellow from mixing trifuralan by hand,never done me any harm.

 

[John 1594]

anyone remember methedistox? not sure if that how its spelt, but that was nasty stuff, can still remember the smell of it after grandad had been out spraying on a cabless tractor all day. He still alive though, never done him any harm

 

[Dave Applesquasher]

Metasystox.
Insecticide, luminous blue and the smell would make you retch!

 

[IANTO]

Not only spray chemicals.

Old fashioned Sheep Dip which from memory were based on OP's.

Despite all the warnings and suggested precautions, which they ignored, there were some Farmer's I knew, who did not believe the stuff was effective, unless they felt ill afterwards.

Whether it had any long term effects, I do not know. Some died young, some ar still going strong, and there is a whole range in the middle.

Given the chance many would still use it, like all the chemicals that have been banned over the years.

 

[John 1594]

i miss IPU

Used to have the stuff delivered by the pallet load years ago

 

[llamedos]

Some people are made ill by the food they eat, so are some made ill by chemicals, wether it be crop or animal aplications, or even the medicine they are prescribed to make them better.
No one size fits all, no sense in spending your life fighting an unknown enemy.

 

[Elmsted]

Honest guvernor I know nuffing as I use an ulva mast and drift the darn stuff on by one pass down the windward side of a 100 hectare feild. Yes sure OP's used to dip animals then humans getting covered in them was not good for man nor beast.
On other hand if due to personal choice people prefer to be organic growers. Fine. Remember that long haired blonde from the 80's who raised hell about a fruit orchard spray being bad for people. Thing was needed to eat 25 kg per day for a decade to reach a problem.

Most/many sprays now used are synthesised versions of mother nature

 

[EJS]

Some people are made ill by the food they eat, so are some made ill by chemicals, wether it be crop or animal aplications, or even the medicine they are prescribed to make them better.
No one size fits all, no sense in spending your life fighting an unknown enemy.

+1 most modern medicine which have been rigorously tested on people still have side-effects in a small percentage of people, so long-term exposure bound to effect very few unlucky ones

 

[suffolksmallholder]

With reference to my comment of Bate-mobiles out in unsuitable weather; This was last year during the high winds, not right now. I think the crop was OSR and well before desiccation, The spray mist was going upwards! I should have taken a picture but thats difficult with another vehicle behind and virtually impossible to capture in a 'phone camera.
SS

 

[Elmsted]

With reference to my comment of Bate-mobiles out in unsuitable weather; This was last year during the high winds, not right now. I think the crop was OSR and well before desiccation, The spray mist was going upwards! I should have taken a picture but thats difficult with another vehicle behind and virtually impossible to capture in a 'phone camera.
SS

Please do try and limit your exposure whilst walking accross millions of hectares covered in pyrethrum plants.

 

[Robigus]

anyone remember methedistox? not sure if that how its spelt, but that was nasty stuff, can still remember the smell of it after grandad had been out spraying on a cabless tractor all day. He still alive though, never done him any harm

Metasystox.
Insecticide, luminous blue and the smell would make you retch!

Once took a villa in Portugal with another farming family, the villa was nicely isolated and surrounded by vineyards. The first night we were smothered in bugs and mosquitos. As we went out the next morning a rickety little tractor with a galvanized sprayer entered the field. You could smell it straight away, my mate and I looked at each other “Ah, Metasystox!” Never saw a mosquito for the rest of the trip.

Not that I'd want to go back to using it myself.

 

[llamedos]

Once took a villa in Portugal with another farming family, the villa was nicely isolated and surrounded by vineyards. The first night we were smothered in bugs and mosquitos. As we went out the next morning a rickety little tractor with a galvanized sprayer entered the field. You could smell it straight away, my mate and I looked at each other “Ah, Metasystox!” Never saw a mosquito for the rest of the trip.

Not that I'd want to go back to using it myself.

And now we just have Scmallenberg-Blue tongue et al

 

[grumpy]

my dad used to make me run along side the sprayer with an ici bag to stop drift on to the neeps

 

[uztrac]

My summer time employment 50 years ago whilst at college was with the old famous company called Fisons. I was a member of the helicopter fieldspray team,we used to travel allover East Anglia dropping in on various farms are spraying assorted crops. What we sprayed onto the crops I have forgotten,but smelt pretty evil.
I spent many happy days as a teenager riding around in the helicopter. No ill effects so far.

 

[Robigus]

my dad used to make me run along side the sprayer with an ici bag to stop drift on to the neeps

Yes, but look at you with your big red nose and your little short legs - you can't say that it did you no harm.