Urinary biomonitoring of glyphosate exposure among male farmers and nonfarmers in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) study

Vicky C Chang; Maria Ospina; Shuai Xie; Gabriella Andreotti; Christine G Parks; Danping Liu; Jessica M Madrigal; Mary H Ward; Nathaniel Rothman; Debra T Silverman; Dale P Sandler; Melissa C Friesen; Laura E Beane Freeman; Antonia M Calafat; Jonathan N Hofmann

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108644

Urinary biomonitoring of glyphosate exposure among male farmers and nonfarmers in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) study

Environ Int. 2024 Apr 11:187:108644. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108644. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: chidan.chang@nih.gov.
² Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁴ Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA.
⁵ Biostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

PMID: 38636272
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108644

Abstract

Glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicide worldwide. Glyphosate biomonitoring data are limited for agricultural settings. We measured urinary glyphosate concentrations and assessed exposure determinants in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) study. We selected four groups of BEEA participants based on self-reported pesticide exposure: recently exposed farmers with occupational glyphosate use in the last 7 days (n = 98), farmers with high lifetime glyphosate use (>80th percentile) but no use in the last 7 days (n = 70), farming controls with minimal lifetime use (n = 100), and nonfarming controls with no occupational pesticide exposures and no recent home/garden glyphosate use (n = 100). Glyphosate was quantified in first morning void urine using ion chromatography isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry. We estimated associations between urinary glyphosate concentrations and potential determinants using multivariable linear regression. Glyphosate was detected (≥0.2 µg/L) in urine of most farmers with recent (91 %) and high lifetime (93 %) use, as well as farming (88 %) and nonfarming (81 %) controls; geometric mean concentrations were 0.89, 0.59, 0.46, and 0.39 µg/L (0.79, 0.51, 0.42, and 0.37 µg/g creatinine), respectively. Compared with both control groups, urinary glyphosate concentrations were significantly elevated among recently exposed farmers (P < 0.0001), particularly those who used glyphosate in the previous day [vs. nonfarming controls; geometric mean ratio (GMR) = 5.46; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 3.75, 7.93]. Concentrations among high lifetime exposed farmers were also elevated (P < 0.01 vs. nonfarming controls). Among recently exposed farmers, glyphosate concentrations were higher among those not wearing gloves when applying glyphosate (GMR = 1.91; 95 % CI: 1.17, 3.11), not wearing long-sleeved shirts when mixing/loading glyphosate (GMR = 2.00; 95 % CI: 1.04, 3.86), applying glyphosate exclusively using broadcast/boom sprayers (vs. hand sprayer only; GMR = 1.70; 95 % CI: 1.00, 2.92), and applying glyphosate to crops (vs. non-crop; GMR = 1.72; 95 % CI: 1.04, 2.84). Both farmers and nonfarmers are exposed to glyphosate, with recency of occupational glyphosate use being the strongest determinant of urinary glyphosate concentrations. Continued biomonitoring of glyphosate in various settings is warranted.

Keywords: Farmers; Glyphosate; Human biomonitoring; Occupational exposure; Urine.