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Exposure to atrazine and selected non-persistent pesticides among corn farmers during a growing season

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 19, pages 544–554 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim was to develop quantitative estimates of farmers’ pesticide exposure to atrazine and to provide an overview of background levels of selected non-persistent pesticides among corn farmers in a longitudinal molecular epidemiologic study. The study population consisted of 30 Agricultural Health Study farmers from Iowa and 10 non-farming controls. Farmers completed daily and weekly diaries from March to November in 2002 and 2003 on pesticide use and other exposure determinants. Urine samples were collected at 10 time points relative to atrazine application and other farming activities. Pesticide exposure was assessed using urinary metabolites and diaries. The analytical limit of detection (LOD) ranged between 0.1 and 0.2 μg/l for all pesticide analytes except for isazaphos (1.5 μg/l) and diazinon (0.7 μg/l). Farmers had higher geometric mean urinary atrazine mercapturate (AZM) values than controls during planting (1.1 vs <LOD μg/g creatinine; P<0.05). AZM levels among farmers were significantly related to the amount of atrazine applied (P=0.015). Interestingly, farmers had a larger proportion of samples above the LOD than controls even after exclusion of observations with an atrazine application within 7 days before urine collection (38% vs 6%, P<0.0001). A similar pattern was observed for 2,4-D and acetochlor (92% vs 47%, P<0.0001 and 45% vs 4%, P<0.0001, respectively). Urinary AZM levels in farmers were largely driven by recent application of atrazine. Therefore, the amount of atrazine applied is likely to provide valid surrogates of atrazine exposure in epidemiologic studies. Elevated background levels of non-persistent pesticides, especially 2,4-D, indicate importance in epidemiologic studies of capturing pesticide exposures that might not be directly related to the actual application.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute and funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, USA. We thank Cynthia J Hines (National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety), Jane Hoppin (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), and Kent Thomas (US Environmental Protection Agency), for useful comments on an earlier version of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHS, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Berit Bakke, Patricia A Stewart, Aaron Blair, Laura Beane Freeman, Michael C R Alavanja & Roel Vermeulen

  2. National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway

    Berit Bakke

  3. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Anneclaire J De Roos

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Anneclaire J De Roos

  5. National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dana B Barr

  6. Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Charles F Lynch

  7. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Ruth H Allen

  8. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Roel Vermeulen

  9. Julius Center, Utrecht Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Roel Vermeulen

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  1. Berit Bakke
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  7. Charles F Lynch
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  9. Michael C R Alavanja
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Correspondence to Michael C R Alavanja.

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Appendix A

Appendix A

Table A1

Table a1 Selected percentiles of urine concentrations (in μg/g creatinine) of 10 pesticides for 30 corn farmers from the Agricultural Health Study and 10 controls, 2002–2004.
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Bakke, B., De Roos, A., Barr, D. et al. Exposure to atrazine and selected non-persistent pesticides among corn farmers during a growing season. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 19, 544–554 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2008.53

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2008.53

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