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The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Major, Viveca Joy
Other Authors: London, Leslie
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Major, Viveca Joy
author2 London, Leslie
author_browse London, Leslie
Major, Viveca Joy
author_facet London, Leslie
Major, Viveca Joy
author_sort Major, Viveca Joy
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:50.330Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
publisherStr Department of Public Health and Family Medicine
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9411 The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa Major, Viveca Joy London, Leslie Medical Includes bibliographical references. Despite the obligatory requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993, Section 8(1)) that âevery employer shall provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of its employeesâ, farm workers in South Africa are exposed to numerous occupational health and safety hazards on a nearly daily basis. One of the many occupational hazards confronting farm workers is their exposure to pesticides, particularly organophosphates, which are potent neurotoxic chemicals used for pest control. Exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPâs) is the cause of a significant number of acute and chronic poisonings amongst rural farm workers and residents in South Africa. While it is evident that the workers involved with the mixing and application of these agrichemical substances are at the greatest risk of exposure, others who are involved with general farm work are similarly at risk of exposure from spray drift and residue on crops, trees and leaves. An important association with the use of and exposure to pesticides is that of suicide in that OPâs are agents that are frequently used to commit suicide. However, being neurotoxins, it is known that OPâs have psychoactive effects and it is thought that long-term exposure to OPâs may be implicated in causing depression. Hence, exposure to OPâs has been postulated to result in suicidality amongst exposed farm workers perhaps through the pathway of depression, impulsivity, aggression or some combination of these factors. There are very few studies exploring this hypothesis to date. South Africa is the largest market for pesticide use in Sub-Saharan Africa and the grape farming sector is an intensive user of pesticides, particularly OP pesticides. This, study sets out to investigate the neuropsychiatric effects of long-term exposure to OPâs in wine and table grape farm workers in South Africa 2014-11-08T14:32:51Z 2014-11-08T14:32:51Z 2010 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9411 eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Medical
Major, Viveca Joy
The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
title_full The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
title_fullStr The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
title_short The role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the Worcester area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa
title_sort role of organophosphate exposure in the aetiology of depression and suicidality amoungst farm workers on wine and table grape farms in the worcester area of the western cape province south africa
topic Medical
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9411
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