Brazilian research on agricultural protection may change ISO standard related to application of agrochemicals

 

Brazilian researcher Hamilton Ramos recommended amendments to two standards of the International Standardization Organization (ISO) related to protective clothing used in rural work. He also proposed the creation of a new ISO standard for protective gloves. His work will be presented during the meeting of the ISO Committee, which will run until 22nd March in Hangzhou, China.
 

The first study advised the committee to promote structural changes to specific risk assessment tests on safety of agricultural clothing, based on ISO 17491-4, equivalent to a simulation of terrestrial applications of agrochemicals.
 

The device, which includes a suspended turntable enclosed by glass and equipped with nozzles and spray tips, measures about 3 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height. During the simulations, a trained person, equipped with protective clothing, measured body movements similar to those of a rural worker who handles agrochemicals. Nozzles and spray nozzles simultaneously released quantities of a non-toxic liquid similar to certain agrochemicals.
 

“The proposal, which we will take to ISO, aims to modify the specifications of the simulator’s nozzles and spray tips. This measure, we conclude, will make the simulations even more precise and produce quality gains while dealing with the safety of protective clothing,” Ramos said.
 

The second study refers to the ISO 27065 standard, which relates to the permeability of protective agricultural equipment. Ramos noted that the tests were conducted with the chemical herbicide, Prowl, which is subject to regulatory restrictions that impede its importation, which delayed relevant international studies and progress in this area.
 

His team developed a non-toxic yellow dye with the same consistency as Prowl, which is now being adopted by the ISO committee as a requirement of ISO 27065. The new dye served as a technical base for the preliminary testing of the first ISO standard linked to the quality of gloves for handling agrochemicals (ISO 18889), which will be discussed during the meeting of China.
 

“We are optimistic about the acceptance of our proposals at the meeting in China. Our long-term efforts have produced very consistent results,” Ramos added. Over 20 scientists from agricultural countries will attend the meeting.
 

As the coordinator of the IAC-Quepia Program for the Protection of Agricultural Equipment and a scientist at the Center for Engineering and Automation of the Agronomic Institute (CEA-IAC), a branch of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, Ramos conducted his work in the advanced laboratory of Quepia in Jundiaí.
 

He worked with American scientist Anugrah Shaw of the University of Maryland (United States). The resources for the feasibility of the studies came from the International Consortium for Development and Evaluation of Protective Equipment for Working with Agrochemicals.