ArticleClinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)2012
Effects of a provincial ban of two toxic organophosphorus insecticides on pesticide poisoning hospital admissions.
Article in Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Paraquat at 63-the story of a controversial herbicide and its regulations: It is time to put people and public health first when regulating paraquat.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Single-cell transcriptomic insights into endosulfan-induced liver injury: Key pathways and inflammatory responses.Liver research (Beijing, China) · 2025Article
- Restrictions on Pesticides and Deliberate Self-Poisoning in Sri Lanka.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Suicides by pesticide ingestion in Pakistan and the impact of pesticide regulation.BMC public health · 2023Review
- Relationship of the high proportion of suicidal acts involving ingestion of pesticides to the low male-to-female ratio of suicide rates in China.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2020Article
- Social and economic variables related with Paraquat self-poisoning: an ecological study.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Epidemiological characteristics of pesticide poisoning in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2007 to 2016.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor insecticides related acute poisoning, availability and sales: trends during the post-insecticide-ban period of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2018Article
- The effect of sodium fluoride, formaldehyde, and storage temperature on the stability of methamidophos in post-mortem blood and liver.International journal of legal medicine · 2017Article
- High lethality and minimal variation after acute self-poisoning with carbamate insecticides in Sri Lanka - implications for global suicide prevention.Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2016Article
- Use of OpdA, an organophosphorus (OP) hydrolase, prevents lethality in an African green monkey model of acute OP poisoning.Toxicology · 2014Article
- Paraquat poisonings in France during the European ban: experience of the Poison Control Center in Marseille.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2013Article
- Applied clinical pharmacology and public health in rural Asia--preventing deaths from organophosphorus pesticide and yellow oleander poisoning.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2013Review
- Reducing Suicide Rates: Need for Public Health and Population Interventions.Indian journal of psychological medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPesticide self-poisoning causes one third of global suicides. Sri Lanka halved its suicide rate by banning WHO Class I organophosphorus (OP) insecticides and then endosulfan. However, poisoning with Class II toxicity OPs, particularly dimethoate and fenthion, remains a problem. We aimed to determine the effect and feasibility of a ban of the two insecticides in one Sri Lankan district.
methodsSale was banned in June 2003 in most of Polonnaruwa District, but not Anuradhapura District. Admissions with pesticide poisoning to the district general hospitals was prospectively recorded from 2002.
resultsHospital admissions for dimethoate and fenthion poisoning fell by 43% after the ban in Polonnaruwa, while increasing by 23% in Anuradhapura. The pesticide case fatality fell from 14.4% to 9.0% in Polonnaruwa (odds ratio [OR] 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.41-0.84) and 11.3% to 10.6% in Anuradhapura (OR 0.93, 95%CI 0.70-1.25; p = 0.051). This reduction was not sustained, with case fatality in Polonnaruwa rising to 12.1% in 2006-2007. Further data analysis indicated that the fall in case fatality had actually been due to a coincidental reduction in case fatality for pesticide poisoning overall, in particular for paraquat poisoning.
conclusionsWe found that the insecticides could be effectively banned from agricultural practice, as shown by the fall in hospital admissions, with few negative consequences. However, the ban had only a minor effect on pesticide poisoning deaths because it was too narrow. A study assessing the agricultural and health effects of a more comprehensive ban of highly toxic pesticides is necessary to determine the balance between increased costs of agriculture and reduced health care costs and fewer deaths.
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