Ayca Aktas Sukuroglu

Mersin University, Pharmaceutical Toxicology, Post-Doc

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Assessment of Preschool Children’s Exposure Levels to Organophosphate and Pyrethroid Pesticide: A Human Biomonitoring Study in Two Turkish Provinces

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

Pesticides are products that were developed for the bene t of humanity. However, now they are one... more Pesticides are products that were developed for the bene t of humanity. However, now they are one of the critical risk factors threatening the environment, and they create a signi cant threat to the environmental health of children. Organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid (PYR) pesticides are widely used in Turkey as well as all over the world. The main focus of this presented study was to analyze the OP and PYR exposure levels in urine samples obtained from 3-6 year old Turkish preschool children who lives in the Ankara (n:132) and Mersin (n:54) provinces. In order to conduct the determination of three non-speci c metabolites of PYR insecticides and four non-speci c and one speci c metabolite of OPs LC-MS/MS quantitative analyses were employed. The non-speci c PYR metabolite 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) (87.1%; n = 162) and the speci c OP metabolite 3,5,6-Trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPY) (60.2%; n = 112) were the most frequently detected metabolites in all urine samples. The mean concentrations of 3-PBA and TCPY were 0.38 ± 0.8 and 0.11 ± 0.43 ng/g creatinine, respectively. Although due to the large individual variation no statistically differences were found between 3-PBA (p = 0.9969) and TCPY (p = 0.6558) urine levels in the two provinces, signi cant exposure differences were determined both between provinces and within the province in terms of gender. Risk assessment strategies performed in light of our ndings do not disclose any proof of a possible health problems related to analyzed pesticide exposure in Turkish children. susceptible to chemicals than adults and approximately half of lifetime pesticide exposure takes place during ve years period of after birth (National Research Council,1993). Children aged 6-11 are reported having remarkably higher concentrations of pesticide residues in their bodies than any other age group (CDC, 2003). The production of pesticides in the world is about 3 million tons, and the presence of these chemicals occurs even in remote areas of the world where there is no agricultural activity (Harris, 2000; Mahmoud and Loutfy, 2012). Even today, the wildlife living in these regions are faced with various health risks, especially poor reproductive health, caused by substances that are not used in these regions. Exposure to these chemicals in every period of human life has become inevitable in our current living conditions. Different origines and reasons can cause pesticides to enter our body such as drinking water, diet, air, occupational and agricultural exposures in rural areas, indoor residential pesticide application, breast milk, and cord blood. Food consumption stands out as the primary exposure route among these sources (Wilson et al. 2003; 2010). While pesticide residues in vegetables and fresh fruits and low exposure in drinking water are important sources of daily exposure, indoor exposures have become an increasingly important route of exposure (Roberts et al. 2012). An American citizen living in the USA is exposed to an average of 10 to 13 pesticide residues each day from drinking water, food, and drink (Benbrook, 2008). Among the most important concerns of the WHO for children are the health risks that may arise later in life from chemicals, including pesticides, from intrauterine and childhood exposures. Pesticides are estimated to be responsible for approximately 4% of all deaths from acute poisoning (Colosio and Moretto, 2008). Consistent scienti c reports have led to the conclusion that especially continuous low-dose exposure to certain pesticides may cause a risk to children's well-being and health (Weiss et. al, 2004). Although the current data are not completely consistent, respiratory diseases, neurological effects, endocrine disruption, and reproductive health problems due to pesticide exposure are sources of concern in all societies. Children at the stage of physiological and neurological development are likely to be affected by exposure to pesticides. For example, the scienti c community agrees that pesticides can trigger the risk of developing asthma and asthma attacks by increasing bronchial hypersensitivity, and even worsen a previous asthmatic condition (Hernández et al. 2011). The WHO also draws attention to possible links between children's exposure to pesticides and health problems, leukemia and congenital heart disease are common examples of this link (WHO, 2017). In addition, an increasing number of scienti c data reveal the impacts of intrauterine and early exposure to certain pesticides on neurobehavioral alterations such as learning ability, memory, motor skills, aggressiveness (Bouchard et al. 2011; Rauh et al. 2011 ; Rauh and Margolis, 2016). After phasing out organochlorine insecticides in the early 1970s because of to their long-term persistency in the environment, their bioaccumulation in living organisms, and the understanding of their many toxic effects, particularly on reproduction, the use of organophosphates (OPs) and pyrethroids (PYRs) increased worldwide. OP insecticides are mostly used to control foliage and soil insect pests in cultivated elds, while PYRs are used to manage pests and minimize the transmission of insect-borne diseases, both in farm and residential areas (gardens, parks, lawns), as well as indoors (Dalsager et al. 2018). It was determined that 14% of foods consumed by urban dwellers in the US contained at least one OP and 5% contained at least one PYR (Lu et al. 2010). On the other hand, in the recent infant total diet study in France, numerous pesticides and metabolites were analyzed in 219 manufactured infant formulas and 90 common foods, comprising 97% of infants and children's diets (Nougadère et al. 2020). Pesticide residues, including many members from OPs and PYRs, were determined in detected in most (67%) of the food samples analyzed. As in the case of these two different countries, children are inevitably exposed to pesticides even though they live in different geographic areas. However, less fortunate children who have to work and their working conditions are a top problem that needs to be resolved quickly. The latest global estimates at the beginning of 2020 show that 97 million boys and 63 million girls are engaged in child labor worldwide. This number corresponds about 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. Seventy percent of all children in child labor, 112 million children in total, are working in the agriculture sector which endangers their health, safety and moral development (ILO, 2021). For example, in South and Central Asia and Africa, children work in agricultural areas in conditions that expose them to risky pesticides both during pesticide spraying and immediately after spraying. Accumulating scienti c evidence shows that children, who make up more than a third of the global population, are among the most vulnerable of the world's population. It has now become an indisputable fact that environmental factors can affect children's state of health quite differently from the health of adults. Pesticides, which are encountered in various ways, are one of the environmental factors that affect the health of our children, both in variety and quantity.

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