Dietary intakes of pesticides based on community duplicate diet samples

Sci Total Environ. 2014 Jan 15:468-469:785-90. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.101. Epub 2013 Sep 23.

Abstract

The calculation of dietary intake of selected pesticides was accomplished using food samples collected from individual representatives of a defined demographic community using a community duplicate diet approach. A community of nine participants was identified in Apopka, FL from which intake assessments of organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid pesticides were made. From these nine participants, sixty-seven individual samples were collected and subsequently analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Measured concentrations were used to estimate dietary intakes for individuals and for the community. Individual intakes of total OP and pyrethroid pesticides ranged from 6.7 to 996 ng and 1.2 to 16,000 ng, respectively. The community intake was 256 ng for OPs and 3430 ng for pyrethroid pesticides. The most commonly detected pesticide was permethrin, but the highest overall intake was of bifenthrin followed by esfenvalerate. These data indicate that the community in Apopka, FL, as represented by the nine individuals, was potentially exposed to both OP and pyrethroid pesticides at levels consistent with a dietary model and other field studies in which standard duplicate diet samples were collected. Higher levels of pyrethroid pesticides were measured than OPs, which is consistent with decreased usage of OPs. The diversity of pyrethroid pesticides detected in food samples was greater than expected. Continually changing pesticide usage patterns need to be considered when determining analytes of interest for large scale epidemiology studies. The Community Duplicate Diet Methodology is a tool for researchers to meet emerging exposure measurement needs that will lead to more accurate assessments of intake which may enhance decisions for chemical regulation. Successfully determining the intake of pesticides through the dietary route will allow for accurate assessments of pesticide exposures to a community of individuals, thereby significantly enhancing the research benefit realized from epidemiological exposure studies.

Keywords: Biological and Environmental Monitoring for Organophosphate and Pyrethroid Pesticide Exposure in children Living in Jacksonville, FL; CTEPP-NC; Children's Total Exposure to Persistent Pesticides and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants Study in North Carolina; Collection technique; Community; Dietary intake; JAX; MNCPES; Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study; NCS; NHANES; National Children's Study; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; OP; Organophosphate; PDP; Pesticide Data Program; Pesticides; RPD; SHEDS; Stochastic Human Exposure And Dose System; TDS; Total Diet Study; USDA; USDHHS; USEPA; United States Department of Agriculture; United States Department of Health and Human Services; United States Environmental Protection Agency; WWEIA; What We Eat In America; relative percent difference.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Environmental Exposure / analysis*
  • Florida
  • Food Analysis / methods
  • Food Contamination / analysis*
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Humans
  • Organophosphates / analysis*
  • Pesticides / analysis*
  • Pyrethrins / analysis*

Substances

  • Organophosphates
  • Pesticides
  • Pyrethrins