Assessments of occupational health hazards of tobacco farmworkers in Andhra Pradesh, India

• Published in: Toxicology and environmental health sciences 2023-12, Vol.15 (4), p.335-344
• Main Authors: Kumar, Achugatla Kesav, Kumar, Adarsh, Vaidhyanathan, Ramasubramanian, Kushwaha, Hari Lal, Chakraborty, Debashis, Tomar, Bhopal Singh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allergies; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Contact dermatitis; Environmental Health; Farm buildings; Farms; Farmworkers; Gender; Gloves; Hazard assessment; Health hazards; Health problems; Itching; Occupational exposure; Occupational health; Operational hazards; Original Article; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Signs and symptoms; Skin diseases; Skin lesions; Sweating; Tobacco; Unloading
• ISSN: 2005-9752; 2233-7784
• DOI: 10.1007/s13530-023-00186-5

Objective The present study aims to find occupational health hazards during agricultural operations performed by tobacco farmworkers and their relationship with different personal and occupational parameters. Methods A study was carried out among 120 tobacco farmworkers in Andhra Pradesh, India. Two soil regions (Northern light and Southern light soils) were selected based on the Tobacco Board of India (2019–20) to collect data through personal interviews with the help of a developed survey proforma. Gender-stratified and odds ratio (OR) analyses were used to examine variables associated with occupational health problems. Results Tobacco farm workers frequently experienced symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), namely headache (14.2%), nausea (11.7%), dizziness and increased sweating (9.2%), weakness (7.5%), exposed running eyes (2.5%), and breathing difficulty (1.7%). They also occasionally had skin diseases, with the highest percentage of allergy (4.2), itching (3.33), rashes (2.5), and 1.0 % for superficial wounds, contact dermatitis, and traumatic skin lesions. The odds ratio (OR > 1) exposure was associated with higher odds of outcome; the values for the female gender, age (20–40 years), working months (1 to 4) per year, protective clothes, without protective gloves, headcovers, and footwear were 2.22, 1.80, 1.28, 5.39, 4.15, 3.39, and 5.78, respectively, showing higher odds of GTS. Conclusions GTS symptoms are a common illness that causes discomfort and loss of productivity. In tobacco cultivation, few operations involve working with bare hands, making the workers vulnerable to nicotine absorption and skin diseases. Few injuries were observed associated with the loading and unloading of tobacco leaves during curing in the barns. To prevent occupational health hazards, development of appropriate, cost-effective interventions suitable for farmworkers is needed, along with creating awareness of the potential hazards among them.