Project Details:

Training of school children on pesticides and health - "Toxicology in the classroom"

Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to pesticides and other toxic chemicals because their bodies are smaller and still developing. Children also face greater exposures than adults due to their hand-to-mouth behaviors. Children living in farming areas or whose parents work in agriculture suffer greater pesticide exposure than other children. The aim is to contribute to the enhancement of chemistry education, and the public appreciation of chemistry by information and appropriate handling based on informed risk assessment.

Despite some non-chemical methods of pest control there is at present no alternative to chemical control. Pesticides are essential to farming economies, especially in developing countries and economies in transition, where adverse effects caused by weeds, diseases and pests are of greater concern. However there is a need to optimise the beneficial use of pesticides by minimising harm through better education about the risks of toxic substances. The project will improve the image of chemistry by associating IUPAC with educational material to reduce careless use of pesticides. The material should also enhance or even help to provide basic education in chemistry and basic toxicology in the classroom. The material will be targeted to chemistry/science teachers in the early years of secondary school. A main objective is to produce training materials for school children aged 9-13 on pesticides to teach them to understand the action of pesticides and the principles of safe handling and to protect themselves and others from harmful effects of pesticides.

The IPCS (International Programme on Chemical Safety of the World Health Organization) has developed a multilevel course for training in the sound management of pesticides for different group of people handling pesticides. The course material is intended for trainers and provides information on different levels from basic for people handling pesticides in anyway to advanced for technical and medical personnel. In developing world most people live in rural areas and childrens' exposure to pesticides is unavoidable since farms are homes as well as workplaces. The aim of the project will be: a) to educate children on protecting themselves from the harmful effects of pesticides; b) to give safety culture for future work that they potentially be involved in use of pesticides.

The training material will include general facts about chemistry, risk assessment, pesticides, safe handling, preventing contamination, protecting themselves and others from harmful effects, how pesticides could effect human health and the environment. The training materials would be prepared as CD-ROM, booklets and flip charts for use in countries with different level of development.

> project initial announcement publishedin Chem.Int. Sep-Oct2005

update Jan 2008 - Several meetings have been made in conjunctionwith this project (Berlin 2005, Prague 2006, Athens 2007). The distillationof these meetings has resulted in a prototype computer animation packagedeveloped at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (task group members RahmatAwang, Maizurah Omah have considerable IT experience including designingprogrammes for educating school children on the risk of tobacco smokingand recently developed the IPCS multilevel course aimed at trainingin the sound management of pesticides). The animation is structuredlike a house where the student can progress through several topics(rooms) related to toxicology and pesticides. A second level (manual)provides basic information, a glossary, links and teacher aids.

The age group of 9-13 years was targeted since it is in the transitionfrom guarded childhood to more independent youth and may be at higherrisk, because of independent activities. Also this age group mightbe responsible to look after younger siblings and influence theirbehaviour.

Task group members (Birger Heinzow and John Duffus) also preparedan experimental design for teaching the dose response principle inthe classroom. This experiment makes use of the suppression of seedgrowth by coppersulfate. A test run was conducted in Malawi and cameup with several very valuable observations and recommendations toreview and refine the existing material. Experimental amendments weremade and the results will be used for the computer animation.

A compilation of existing material that might be of interest andsuitable for education in the context of pesticide toxicology, includingmaterial from other organisations/initiatives, NGOs and the chemicalindustry was undertaken and will be included in the manual of thepackage.

Amendments to the prototype will include the addition of more shortanimated stories. The material will also be evaluated in accordancewith the theory of learning. It is proposed to pilot this educationalmaterial and seek critique, advice and comments from users (teachersand students).

 

update Aug 2009 - A workshop to review a draft version of the Toxiclaro package was held on 15 August 2008 immediately following the WHO/EURO meeting on "Sound management of pesticides - risk reduction", Bonn, Germany. This was attended by R Awang, N Besbelli, B Heinzow and W Temple. Several amendments were suggested at this meeting which were to be incorporated by Professor Awang and his informatics team in Malaysia. Professor Awang had previously demonstrated the software to delegates at the WHO meeting prior to this workshop.

Professor Awang subsequently delivered a PowerPoint presentation entitled “The Design and Development of a Multimedia “Toxicology in the Classroom” Courseware for Young Children at the 7th Annual Congress of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Toxicology, December 8-10, 2008 at the Hotel Mountview, Chandigarh, India.

An amended version of the Toxiclaro multimedia package is now been developed which can be found at
www.prn2.usm.my/toxicology2009

Group members are currently reviewing this material and plan to finalise the project by the end of 2009.

November 2009 - feature publishedin Chem. Int. Nov-Dec2009

Update May 2013 – This project resulted in the production of training material consisting of several modules in a CD-ROM, booklet and flip charts for use in countries with differing levels of development. This material known as Toxicology in the classroom (Toxiclaro) was developed in a joint effort involving IUPAC, WHO, UNEP and the Universiti Sains Malaysia. It was pilot tested in both urban and rural schools in Argentina, Ghana and Malaysia. The Toxiclaro CD is currently available via the UNEP website. 

Presentations on Toxiclaro were held during the annual congress of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Toxicology in Chandigarh (2008) and Hong Kong (2012); Toxiclaro was also presented at the 2011 conference in Carpi/Italy of the Collegium Ramazzini. It won two awards (gold medal and special) at the Malaysia Technology Exposition in Kuala Lumpur in February 2013.

It is hoped to develop a new version Toxiclaro II in the near future.

Project Completed

 

 

• Temple, Wayne

• Awang, Rahmat
• Besbelli, Nida
• Heinzow, Birger
• Makalinao, Irma
• Omar, Maizurah
• Rexilius, Lutz
• Schweinsberg, Fritz