Children's Exposure to Chlorpyrifos and Parathion in an Agricultural Community
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Subject: Children's Exposure to Chlorpyrifos and Parathion in an Agricultural Community
Date:
Tue, 7 May 2002 08:56:06 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 110, Number 5, May
2002
Children's Exposure to Chlorpyrifos and Parathion in an
Agricultural Community in
Central
Washington
State
Richard A. Fenske,1 Chensheng Lu,1 Dana Barr,2 and Larry
Needham2
1Department of Environmental Health,
School
of
Public Health
and Community Medicine,
University
of
Washington
,
Seattle
,
Washington
,
USA
; 2Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National
Center
for Environmental Health,
Atlanta
,
Georgia
, USA Abstract We measured two diethyl organophosphorus (OP) pesticides--chlorpyrifos
and parathion--in residences, and their metabolic by-products, in the urine of
children 6 years old or younger in a central
Washington
State agricultural community. Exposures to two dimethyl OP pesticides (azinphos-methyl
and phosmet) in this same population have been reported previously. We
categorized children by parental occupation and by household proximity to
pesticide-treated farmland. Median chlorpyrifos house dust concentrations were
highest for the 49 applicator homes (0.4 µg/g), followed by the 12 farm-worker
homes (0.3 µg/g) and the 14 nonagricultural reference homes (0.1 µg/g), and
were statistically different (p < 0.001); we observed a similar pattern for
parathion in house dust. Chlorpyrifos was measurable in the house dust of all
homes, whereas we found parathion in only 41% of the homes. Twenty-four percent
of the urine samples from study children had measurable
3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy) concentrations [limits of quantitation (LOQ)
= 8 µg/L], and 7% had measurable 4-nitrophenol concentrations (LOQ = 9 µg/L).
Child urinary metabolite concentrations did not differ across parental
occupational classifications. Homes in close proximity (200 ft/60 m) to
pesticide-treated farmland had higher chlorpyrifos (p = 0.01) and parathion (p =
0.014) house dust concentrations than did homes farther away, but this effect
was not reflected in the urinary metabolite data. Use of OP pesticides in the
garden was associated with an increase in TCPy concentrations in children's
urine. Parathion concentrations in house dust decreased 10-fold from 1992 to
1995, consistent with the discontinued use of this product in the region in the
early 1990s.
Key words: agriculture, children, chlorpyrifos, exposure,
house dust, organophosphorus, parathion, pesticides, urinary metabolites.
Environ Health Perspect 110:549-553 (2002). [Online
5 April 2002
] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p549-553fenske/abstract.html
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Address correspondence to R. Fenske, Department of
Environmental Health, Box
357234,
University
of
Washington
,
Seattle
,
WA
98195-7234
USA
. Telephone (206) 543-0916. Fax: (206) 616-2687. E-mail: rfenske@u.washington.edu
We thank all of the families who participated in this study, and C.
Loewenherz, N. Simcox, K. Yuknavage, I.-C. Lee, G. Bellamy,
E. Allen, J.
Kissel, and C. Curl for their assistance in this work.
This work was supported by funding from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (cooperative agreement R819186-01 and STAR grant
R82517101), the Association of Schools of Public Health (cooperative agreement
S147-14/16), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(cooperative agreement U07/CCU012926, Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and
Health
Center
).
Received
8 June 2001
; accepted
3 October 2001
.
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