Daily intake and human risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) based on Cambodian market basket data

Abstract

To assess organochlorine pesticide (OCP) contaminations and its possible adverse health impacts, different food samples were collected from three areas of Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world. The ∑OCP concentrations in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal provinces ranged from 1.28 to 188 (median 3.11), 1.06 to 25.1 (5.59) and 2.20 to 103 (20.6) ng g(-1), respectively. The dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) were the predominant OCPs and accounted for 62.2% (median) among all foodstuffs. Congener profile analyses suggested that there were new input sources of DDTs and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in Cambodia, particularly in Kandal province. The estimated daily intake of OCPs (330 ng kg(-1)day(-1)) for residents in Kandal province ranked No. 1 among the 13 compared countries or regions. On the basis of 95th percentile concentrations, the carcinogenic hazard ratios (HRs) of most investigated individual OCPs in vegetable and fish in Cambodia exceeding unity. Particularly for α-HCH in vegetable, the 95th HR was as high as 186. The data revealed that there is a great cancer risk for the local residents with life time consumption of OCP contaminated vegetable and fish. To our knowledge, this the first study to evaluate the daily intakes of OCPs in Cambodia.