The treatment of seeds such as corn, soybeans, and cereals with insecticides and fungicides is growing in importance in North American agriculture. Seed treatment promotes greater plant growth in the period following planting and reduces the amount of pesticide required per acre. In determining the exposure and potential risks to individuals involved in seed treatment and in the planting of treated seed, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) rely on exposure studies conducted with variable methodology and often using equipment that are no longer relevant. The Agricultural Handlers Exposure Task Force (AHETF) is a consortium of 28 member agrochemicals companies and 10 participating companies developing a database comprised of modern occupational exposure studies involving the treatment of seed in commercial facilities and on-farm operations and also to farmers planting treated seed. AHETF has been working with EPA and PMRA in the analysis and evaluation of these data to create a generic exposure database to estimate dermal and inhalation exposure to workers accurately. This will allow for high confidence regulatory decisions regarding seed treatment pesticide products.

Development of a generic seed treatment exposure database

246th National Meeting (2013)

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