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When poisoning ensues, pesticides are classified as pyrethroids and act on the central and peripheral nervous system, and the high concentration cause permanent damage or long exposure damage the peripheral nerve. While those classified as organophosphates build up in tissues and when in excess they alter the central nervous system.
Today it is rare to find corporate hearing protection programs which consider chemicals as possible culprits of auditory disorders, as well as its simultaneous exposure to noise. In 1999, in a very optimistic way, the Social Security Department (Decree # 3048 from May 06, 1999), listed benzene and aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbonates as possible culprits of ototoxic hearing loss; nonetheless, this decree is limited to some solvents only. As to what was exposed above, some studies sug-gest that the exposure to two agents is really harmful to health, since they may have a synergic effect. Nonetheless, these studies are scarce and show a need for paying more attention to this matter, since there is a large number of Brazilians exposed to this hazard. The goal of the present paper was to study the audiological findings in workers exposed to occupational noise and pesticides and compare them with data obtained from workers exposed to noise only.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was carried out in the clinical audiology department of a public institution. It is a retrospective study in which we analyzed the charts from individuals exposed to a pesticide (Malathion) and noise (group I), and individuals who were exposed to noise only (group II), in the year of 2007. Each group was made up of 40 individuals, all male adults. These individuals were between 31 and 45 years, thus ruling out different diagnostic hypothesis, which happen after 45 years of life. And, in both groups noise exposure time was of 5 to 30 years. The equivalent noise level that the workers were exposed to was 98.5 dB (A)9 and the exposure time was of 3 to 4 hours per day. The employees are previously fit with Personal Protection Equipment (P.P.E), according to Standard NR 620, of Ordinance 3214/781, being relevant for our study to stress the use of proper respiratory masks and ear plugs, both certified and approved by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.