Khuda Bakhsh|Naeem Ahmad|Muhammad Kamran|Sarfraz Hassan|Qasir Abbas|Rashed Saeed|Muhammad Sadiq Hashmi
Occupational hazards and health cost of women cotton pickers in Pakistani Punjab
COMSATS University Islamabad|Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology|University of Agriculture Faisalabad|University of Agriculture Faisalabad|Karakoram International University
farm workers female cotton pickers exposed residual impacts pesticide use cotton production addition dust ultraviolet radiation etc cotton picking causes various health hazards among cotton pickers varied health cost soil bacterium known bacillus thuringiensis bt incorporated cotton seed genetic modification resistance certain bollworms cotton considered bt cotton fields less pesticide exposure compared nonbt cotton fields study designed examine compare impacts health cost cotton picking among female cotton pickers working bt nonbt cotton fields study used data collected vehari district pakistani punjab health hazards associated health cost respondents involved bt cotton picking compared harvested nonbt cotton comparative use personal protective measures among respondents also examined health cost function determinants analyzed using ordinary least square method findings study showed 61 cotton pickers bt cotton households reported one health effects pesticide picking season whereas percentage nonbt cotton households 66 health impacts included skin problems headache cough flufever eye irritation sleeplessness however percentage health impacts comparatively higher among nonbt cotton households health cost exposure pesticide use cotton us 574 291 per season nonbt cotton bt cotton households respectively education picking bt cotton fields preventive measures significantly related health cost cotton pickers working bt cotton fields found less occupational health hazards compared working nonbt cotton fields thus generating awareness among cotton pickers adopting precautionary measures harvesting use bt cotton seed result decline illeffects cotton picking