Abstract
In support of planning efforts for the National Children's Study, we conducted a study to test field methods for characterizing pesticide exposures to 20 farmworker children aged 5–27 months old living in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California. We tested methods for collecting house dust, indoor and outdoor air, dislodgeable residues from surfaces and toys, residues on clothing (sock and union suits), food, as well as spot and overnight diaper urine samples. We measured 29 common agricultural and home use pesticides in multiple exposure media samples. A subset of organophosphorus (OP), organochlorine (OC) and pyrethroid pesticides were measured in food. We also analyzed urine samples for OP pesticide metabolites. Finally, we administered four field-based exposure assessment instruments: a questionnaire; food diary; home inspection; and a self-administered child activity timeline. Pesticides were detected more frequently in house dust, surface wipes, and clothing than other media, with chlorpyrifos, diazinon, chlorthal-dimethyl, and cis- and trans-permethrin detected in 90% to 100% of samples. Levels of four of these five pesticides were positively correlated among the house dust, sock, and union suit samples (Spearman's ρ=0.18–0.76). Pesticide loading on socks and union suits was higher for the group of 10 toddlers compared to the 10 younger crawling children. Several OP pesticides, as well as 4,4′-DDE, atrazine, and dieldrin were detected in the food samples. The child activity timeline, a novel, low-literacy instrument based on pictures, was successfully used by our participants. Future uses of these data include the development of pesticide exposure models and risk assessment.
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Acknowledgements
The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development partially funded and collaborated in the research described here under RD 83171001 to the U.C. Berkeley Center for Children's Environmental Health Research. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. This research was also funded by NIEHS grant PO1 ES009605. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. T. McKone was supported in part by the U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Laboratory through Interagency Agreement DW-988-38190-01-0 with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory through the US Department of Energy under Contract Grant No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. We gratefully acknowledge Katherine Kogut for her technical assistance, the field staff, and, especially, the families that participated in this study for their valuable time and commitment.
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Bradman, A., Whitaker, D., Quirós, L. et al. Pesticides and their Metabolites in the Homes and Urine of Farmworker Children Living in the Salinas Valley, CA. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17, 331–349 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500507
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500507
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