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Biological monitoring of exposure to organophosphate pesticides in children living in peri-urban areas of the Province of Quebec, Canada

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Abstract

Objective: This study was undertaken to assess the exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides in children from peri-urban areas of the Province of Quebec, Canada, through measurements of semi-specific alkylphosphate (AP) metabolites. Methods: Eighty-nine children aged between 3 and 7 years were recruited via pamphlets sent to day-care centers. A first morning urine void was collected early in the spring of 2003 prior to summertime, which is the usual period of outdoor pesticide use. During summertime, up to five more first morning voids were repeatedly collected, at 72-h intervals, over a 13-day period. The potential determinants of exposure were assessed by a questionnaire at the time of urine collection. Results: Methylphosphate metabolites were detectable in 98.2% of the 442 samples analyzed while ethylphosphates were detected in 86.7% of the samples. The geometric mean concentration (GM) of the total AP metabolites was 61.7 μg/g creatinine (range: 2.7–1967.3 μg/g creatinine). The difference in urinary AP concentrations between samples collected during spring and summer was non-significant (P=0.08). There was also no significant difference in the mean AP concentrations between summer samples of individuals living in municipalities where outdoor pesticide use is or is not restricted (P=0.25). However, the presence of a pet in the house was associated with an increase in AP concentrations during spraying season (P=0.02). Pesticides were seldom used, as reported by the questionnaire. A significant correlation was also observed (P<0.001) between the urinary AP concentrations in samples provided by siblings at the same time period. Conclusions: Mean concentrations of AP were generally higher than those reported in other studies. The observed exposure apparently occurred mainly through the dietary ingestion of OP residues. These data raise questions on the levels of OP residues in Quebec food and the possibility that our participants consumed more fruits and vegetables than those in other studies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank: in Longueuil, Éveline Savoie for her assistance in the statistical procedures, Marilyne Simard for her fieldwork and Anne-Marie Delorme for her secretarial services; in Quebec City, Louis St-Laurent for his fieldwork, Suzanne Gingras for advice with certain statistical aspects, Susie Bernier for a grammatical revision of the manuscript and Daniel Bolduc for his all-around assistance. They also wish to express special thanks to the participating families. This work received the financial support of the Ministère de la santé du Québec, the Direction de la Toxicologie Humaine of the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec and the Direction de la Santé Publique de la Montérégie. The authors declare they do not have any financial competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Direction des Risques Biologiques, Environnementaux et Occupationnels, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, 4835, Christophe-Colomb, Bureau 200,, H2J 3G8, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Mathieu Valcke, Michèle Bouchard & Denis Belleville

  2. Direction de la Toxicologie Humaine, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Quebec City, QC, Canada

    Onil Samuel & Pierre Dumas

  3. Chaire en Analyse des Risques Toxicologiques Pour La Santé Humaine, Département de Santé Environnementale et de Santé au Travail, Faculté de Médecine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Michèle Bouchard

  4. Département de Santé Environnementale, Direction de la Santé Publique de la Montérégie, Longueuil, QC, Canada

    Claude Tremblay

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  1. Mathieu Valcke
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  2. Onil Samuel
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  3. Michèle Bouchard
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Correspondence to Mathieu Valcke.

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As the work presented in this paper involved human subjects, it was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the ethics committee of the Hôpital Charles-Lemoyne, affiliated with the University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, in order to ensure the protection of the human subjects with respect to confidentiality and ethical considerations. All the subjects and their parents gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

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Valcke, M., Samuel, O., Bouchard, M. et al. Biological monitoring of exposure to organophosphate pesticides in children living in peri-urban areas of the Province of Quebec, Canada. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 79, 568–577 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-006-0085-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-006-0085-8

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