Safe handling of agricultural pesticides in Minnesota: results of a county-wide educational intervention.

Safe pesticide handling in a group of Minnesota farmers, aged 40 years and older, was influenced through the use of a multifaceted, countywide educational intervention. Two intervention counties and two control counties were involved in this effort. The intervention consisted of mailed pesticide information to farm households, educational programs on pesticides for county physicians, elementary school training modules on pesticides and the use of safe pesticide handling displays in key business areas by agricultural extension agents. Five hundred eight farmers were identified as pesticide users (186 in the intervention counties and 322 in the control counties). The use of gloves and other protective clothing while handling pesticides increased in the intervention group. Improvement was greater in those who had used protective equipment the least before the intervention. From these results, it appears that a broad-based educational intervention might have a modest impact in how farmers protect themselves when using pesticides.