Background: Pesticide residues are a threat to the health of the global population, not only to farmers, applicators, and other pesticide professionals. Humans are exposed through various routes such as food, skin, and inhalation. This study summarizes the different methods to assess and/or estimate human exposure to pesticide residues of the global population.
Methods: A systematic search was carried out on Scopus and web of science databases of studies on human exposure to pesticide residues since 2019.
Results: The methods to estimate human health risk can be categorized as direct (determining the exposure through specific biomarkers in human matrices) or indirect (determining the levels in the environment and food and estimating the occurrence). The role that analytical techniques play was analyzed. In both cases, the application of generic solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction (SPE) clean-up, followed by liquid or gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, is decisive. Advances within the analytical techniques have played an unquestionable role.
Conclusions: All these studies have contributed to an important advance in the knowledge of analytical techniques for the detection of pesticide levels and the subsequent assessment of nonoccupational human exposure.
Keywords: direct estimation; environmental exposure; estimated intakes; human health; indirect estimation; pesticide residues; wastewater-based epidemiology.