A.  Prevention

Insecticides and other pesticides can enter the body through the skin, mouth, and the respiratory system.  Following the steps below should protect you from each mode of entry.

1. Do not enter a field on the same day that an insecticide has been applied.  If the field was treated the previous day, wait until the foliage has dried if it is wet from dew or rain.  Don’t work or linger in or near a field where there is danger of drift from other fields.
2. Do not take food, drink or tobacco into the field.  Do not smoke, drink, eat or rub your mouth or eyes until you have washed your hands and face with soap and water.
3. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants of tightly woven fabric, socks, a hat and shoes. Do not wear canvas shoes or sandals. Change clothing daily and do not rewear it until it has been laundered.  This clothing should be laundered separately from other clothing.
4. Take a complete shower with soap and water, including your hair, at the end of each working day.
5. If you become wet with insecticide, remove the contaminated clothing and wash the contaminated area of the body at once.
6. Do not handle or load pesticides or in any way assist in pesticide application unless proper precautions and training requirements have been met.
7. Be sure that any cuts on your hands or face are protected. Pesticides penetrate broken skin more readily than intact skin.
8. Have soap and water available at all times. 

B.  Symptoms

Most hazardous pesticides used in scouted orchards are organophosphates, or organic phosphates.  Others are carbamate insecticides.  Both organophosphates and carbamates disrupt the nervous system and produce the same symptoms or sign of poisoning.  These symptoms will usually show up within 12 hours of exposure.  Not all will appear in a single individual but a poisoned person will experience several of them.  They are:

1. Mild or early symptoms

a. fatigue
b. headache
c. dizziness or giddiness
d. blurred vision
e. excess sweat or saliva or runny nose
f.  nausea and vomiting
g. stomach cramps or diarrhea

2. Moderate symptoms

a. weakness
b. chest discomfort
c. muscle twitches
d. constriction of pupils of eyes
e. unable to walk

3. Severe symptoms

a. unconsciousness
b. severe constriction of pupils of eyes
c. convulsions
d. breathing difficulty
e. coma
f. death if not treated

C.  Treatment of Poisoning

1. Remove contaminated clothing and wash contaminated area of the body with soap and water.  If the pesticide was swallowed or has gotten into the mouth, rinse the mouth thoroughly with water and get the victim to a doctor at once.  If pesticide has gotten into the eyes, rinse them for 15 minutes with clear, running water.
2. If the victim is not breathing, give artificial respiration.
3. In case of any doubt whatsoever, go immediately to a doctor or hospital emergency room.  If possible, have someone drive you there.
4. See that the doctor gets a copy of the pesticide label or at least knows what was being used.  Your supervisor or the grower will be of help there.
5. Doctors use massive doses of atrophine sulfate to treat organophosphate and carbamate poisoning.  They also use 2-PAM to treat organophosphate poisoning, but it should not be used for carbamate poisoning.