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. 2020 Feb 24;17(4):1435.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041435.

Indicators of Genotoxicity in Farmers and Laborers of Ecological and Conventional Banana Plantations in Ecuador

Hans-Peter Hutter  1 , Michael Poteser  1 , Kathrin Lemmerer  1 , Peter Wallner  1 , Shifra Shahraki Sanavi  1 , Michael Kundi  1 , Hanns Moshammer  1 , Lisbeth Weitensfelder  1
Affiliations

Indicators of Genotoxicity in Farmers and Laborers of Ecological and Conventional Banana Plantations in Ecuador

Hans-Peter Hutter et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Banana farming represents an important segment of agricultural production in Ecuador. The health of farmworkers might be compromised by the extensive use of pesticides in plantations applied under poorly regulated conditions. Due to an increased awareness of pesticide-related problems for nature, as well as for worker and consumer health, ecological farming has been established in some plantations of Ecuador. We set out to investigate the occupational health of workers in both conventional and ecological farming. Nuclear anomalies in buccal epithelial cells were used as short-term indicators for genotoxicity and a potentially increased cancer risk in the two groups of farmworkers. By application of the Buccal Micronucleus Cytome Assay (BMCA), we found the frequency of micronuclei in conventional pesticide using farmworkers significantly increased by 2.6-fold, and other nuclear anomalies significantly increased by 24% to 80% (except pyknosis with a non-significant increase of 11%) compared to the farmworkers on ecological plantations. These results demonstrate that ecological farming may provide an alternative to extensive pesticide use with significantly reduced indicators of cancer risk. In conventional farming, improvements in education and instruction regarding the safe handling of pesticides and protective equipment, as well as regulatory measures, are urgently needed.

Keywords: banana farming; cytotoxicity; genotoxicity; occupational health; pesticide sprayers; pesticides.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of geographical locations of the study sites in Ecuador.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean frequency (and 95% confidence intervals) of nuclear anomalies per 1000 cells in the groups of conventional (black) and ecological farmworkers (white). BN: Binucleated cells; KR: Karyorrhexis; CC: Condensed chromatin; KL: Karyolysis; Bottom: PY: Pyknosis; BASAL: Basal cells; Total MNi: Total number of micronuclei; MN: micronucleated cells (number of viewed cells with micronuclei); BUD: Cells with nuclear buds (“broken egg”).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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