Variations in serum concentrations of selected organochlorines among delivering women in Argentina. The EMASAR study

Pesticides exposure in pregnant Argentinian women: Potential relations with the residence areas and the anthropometric neonate parameters

Intrauterine environment is the first chemical exposure scenario in life, through transplacental transfer. In this study, the aim was to determine concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and selected current use pesticides in the placentas of pregnant women from Argentina. Socio-demographic information, the mother's lifestyle and neonatal characteristics were also analysed and related to pesticides residue concentrations. Thus, 85 placentas were collected at birth, from an area of intensive fruit production for the international market, in Patagonia Argentina. Concentrations of 23 pesticides including, trifluralin (herbicide), the fungicides chlorothalonil and HCB, and the insecticides chlorpyrifos, HCHs, endosulfans, DDTs, chlordanes, heptachlors, drins and metoxichlor, were determined by GC-ECD and GC-MS. Results were first analysed all together and then grouped by their residential settings, in urban and rural groups. Total mean pesticide concentration was 582.6 ± 1034.4 ng/g lw, where DDTs (325.9 ± 950.3 ng/g lw) and chlorpyrifos (188.4 ± 365.4 ng/g lw) showed a high contribution. Pesticide levels found exceeded those reported in low, middle and high income countries from Europe, Asia and Africa. In general, pesticides concentrations were not associated with neonatal anthropometric parameters. When the results were analysed by residence place, significantly higher concentrations of total pesticides and chlorpyrifos (Mann Whitney test p = 0.0003 and p = 0.032, respectively) were observed in placentas collected from mothers living in rural settings compared to urban areas. Rural pregnant women presented the highest pesticide burden (5.9 μg), where DDTs and chlorpyrifos were the major constituents. These results suggested that all pregnant women are highly exposed to complex pesticide mixtures, including banned OCPs and the widely used chlorpyrifos. Based on the pesticide concentrations found, our results warn of possible health impacts from prenatal exposure through transplacental transfer. This is one of the first reports of both chlorpyrifos and chlorothalonil concentrations in placental tissue, and contributes to the knowledge of current pesticide exposure in Argentina.

Monitoring temporal trends of dioxins, organochlorine pesticides and chlorinated paraffins in pooled serum samples collected from Northern Norwegian women: The MISA cohort study

The ubiquitous presence of legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environmental matrices poses a potential hazard to the humans and creating public health concerns. The present study aimed to evaluate dioxins, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and chlorinated paraffins (CPs) concentrations in serum of women (postpartum, pregnant and non-pregnant) from Northern Norway to better understand their exposure and contamination status as well as temporal trends across 2007-2009 (MISA 1) to 2019 (MISA 2). Sixty-two blood samples from the MISA 1 cohort and 38 samples from MISA 2 were randomly selected in this study (n = 100). Ninety samples from postpartum (MISA 1) and pregnant women (MISA 2) were randomly combined into 9 pools, with 9-11 individual samples contributing to each pool keeping the groups of pregnant and postpartum women. Remaining 10 samples from non-pregnant women (MISA 2) were allocated into separate group. Geometric mean, minimum and maximum were used to describe the serum concentrations of pooled POPs in MISA cohort. Mann-Whitney U test and independent sample t-test were applied for trend analysis of blood levels of POPs between MISA 1 and MISA 2. We found the serum concentrations of selected POPs in this study to be at lower range. Serum concentrations of dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) (p = 0.010), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) (p = 0.002), dioxins-like PCBs (p = 0.001), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) (p < 0.001) and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) (p = 0.002) were decreased between the studied time. In contrast, the serum concentrations of medium chain chlorinated paraffins showed an increasing trend between 2007 and 2009 and 2019 (p = 0.019). Our findings report a particular concern of emerging contaminant medium chain chlorinated paraffin exposure to humans. Future observational studies with repeated measurements of chlorinated paraffins in general populations worldwide and large sample size are warranted.

Serum Concentrations of Selected Organochlorines in Pregnant Women and Associations with Pregnancy Outcomes. A Cross-Sectional Study from Two Rural Settings in Cambodia

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 194 pregnant women from two low-income settings in Cambodia. The inclusion period lasted from October 2015 through December 2017. Maternal serum samples were analyzed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The aim was to study potential effects on birth outcomes. We found low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCP), except for heptachlors, β-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor epoxide, and p,p'-DDE. There were few differences between the two study locations. However, the women from the poorest areas had significantly higher concentrations of p,p'-DDE (p < 0.001) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) (p = 0.002). The maternal factors associated with exposure were parity, age, residential area, and educational level. Despite low maternal levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, we found significant negative associations between the PCB congeners 99 (95% CI: -2.51 to -0.07), 138 (95% CI: -1.28 to -0.32), and 153 (95% CI: -1.06 to -0.05) and gestational age. Further, there were significant negative associations between gestational age, birth length, and maternal levels of o,p'-DDE. Moreover, o,p'-DDD had positive associations with birth weight, and both p,p'-DDD and o,p'-DDE were positively associated with the baby's ponderal index. The poorest population had higher exposure and less favorable outcomes.

Influence of maternal and sociodemographic characteristics on the accumulation of organohalogen compounds in Argentinian women. The EMASAR study

The occurrence of organohalogen compounds in venous serum from post-partum mothers from two Argentinian cities, Salta and Ushuaia, has been investigated (n = 698). 4,4'-DDE was the most abundant compound in these cities, with geometric means of 33 and 67ng/g lipid weight, respectively. City of residence, age and parity were the main determinants of the accumulation of these compounds. Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was the second most abundant pollutant in Ushuaia, 8.7ng/g lipid, and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) in Salta, 7.8ng/g lipid. Decabromodiphenyl ether was higher in Ushuaia than Salta, 8.2 and 4.1ng/g lipid, respectively. The predominance of β-HCH, 4,4'-DDE and 4,4'-DDT in Salta was related with higher use of pesticides for agricultural applications. The observed higher concentrations of 4,4'-DDE and 4,4'-DDT in the mothers from rural+semi-urban sites than in urban areas were consistent with this agricultural origin. In addition, the most volatile organochlorine compounds included in this study, HCB and α-HCH, were mainly found in Ushuaia. The concentrations of the studied organohalogen pollutants in Argentina were lower than those found in other similar studies which is consistent with the location of these cities in the southern hemisphere. Age, mainly for 4,4'-DDE and polychlorobiphenyl (PCB) congeners 138, 153 and 180, and parity, mainly for HCB, β-HCH, 4,4'-DDT and PCB congener 118, were the second main determinants of the concentrations of these compounds. Gestational weight gain also influenced on the maternal levels of HCB, β-HCH, 4,4'-DDT and PCB congeners 118, 138 and 153. Higher weight accumulation during pregnancy involved dilution of these persistent pollutants. Body mass index (BMI) was a statistically significant determinant for 4,4'-DDT, α-HCH and PCB congeners 153 and 180. The observed direct correspondence between higher BMI and 4,4'-DDT concentrations was in agreement with the above reported inputs related with agricultural applications. The reverse correspondence of BMI with α-HCH and the PCB congeners indicated higher dilution at higher weight increase.