Pyrethroid exposure of the general population—is this due to diet
Introduction
Pyrethroids are a group of very important insecticides with neurotoxic properties. They are used in agriculture as well as for indoor pest control on a great scale. In formulations, they are usually present as a mixture of several stereo- and optical isomers. Pyrethroids exert their neurotoxic effects especially on insects. Their toxicity to humans is at least three orders of magnitude lower than for insects. Consequently, the toxicity of pyrethroids for mammals is classed as low and the WHO has set acceptable daily intakes for pyrethroids such as permethrin and cypermethrin of 0.05 mg/kg per body weight (Lu, 1995). In mammals, these substances are readily cleaved at the central ester bond to relatively non-toxic metabolites (Dorman and Beasley, 1991).
Pyrethroids, because of their widespread use and their potential health effects, have been the subject of a great public debate in Germany. Carpets and other textiles containing pyrethroids for insect protection have been suspected of causing neurological disorders.
Recent papers show that the general population in Germany obviously is exposed to these insecticides rather homogeneously (Heudorf and Angerer, 2001, Hardt and Angerer, 1999, Butte et al., 1998). In many of these studies, a lack of any relationship between external exposure, ascertained by dust analysis, and the results of biological monitoring has been reported. Therefore, we suppose, that this is due to an uptake of pyrethroid residues with normal diet. To clarify this question, we examined the relationship between two pyrethroid metabolites, trans-DCCA and cis-DCCA, determined in urine samples of 1177 persons who were investigated with respect to their internal exposure to pyrethroids in another study (Heudorf and Angerer, 2001). There are experimental studies which show that the relationship between these two metabolites is influenced by the route of uptake and therefore, may be suitable for a confirmation of our hypothesis (Woollen et al., 1992).
Section snippets
Subjects
Spot urine samples were collected from 1177 inhabitants of a residential area (595 females, 582 males). None reported exposure to pyrethroids at home, or at work. These subjects were between 6 months and 65 years old. As many children and teenagers participated in this study, the median age of the collective was 13 years. Subjects (145) stated that they were smokers.
Chemicals
Cis-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (cis-DCCA; certified assay, 99.8%), trans-DCCA (certified
Results and discussion
The results of biological monitoring conducted in our laboratory are shown in Table 1.
We found trans-DCCA in 65% of all urine samples analysed. The corresponding median value and the 95th‰ were 0.4 and 1.4 μg/l, respectively. The metabolites of deltamethrin (DBCA) and cyfluthrin (F-PBA) were detected in only 19 and 16% of samples, respectively. These pyrethroids are generally used to a lesser extent.
No connection was found between the age of the persons investigated and the excretion of
Conclusion
With the determination of urinary pyrethroid metabolites in a very large population, we have corroborated the fact that the general population is homogeneously exposed to pyrethroids.
Furthermore, our results affirm the assumption that pyrethroids are generally taken up with the daily diet. This is shown by the relationship between trans- and cis-DCCA, which is in good agreement with the results of an experimental study.
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