Maternal pesticide exposure and child neuro-development among smallholder tomato farmers in the southern corridor of Tanzania

Exposure to pesticides, persistent and non - persistent pollutants in French 3.5-year-old children: Findings from comprehensive hair analysis in the ELFE national birth cohort

INTRODUCTION

Exposure to endocrine disruptors during early childhood poses significant health risks. This study examines the exposure levels of French 3.5-year-old children to various persistent and non-persistent pollutants and pesticides using hair analysis as part of the ELFE national birth cohort. Differences in sex and geographical location among the children were investigated as ppossible determinants of exposure.

METHODS

Exposure biomarkers from 32 chemical families were analyzed using LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS in 222 hair samples from children in the ELFE cohort. Of these, 46 mother-child pairs from the same cohort provided unique insight into prenatal and postnatal exposure. Regressions, correlations and discriminate analysis were used to assess relationships between exposure and possible confounding factors.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Among the biomarkers tested in children's hair samples, 69 had a detection frequency of ≥ 50 %, with 20 showing a 100 % detection rate. The most detected biomarkers belonged to the bisphenol, organochlorine and organophosphate families. Sex-specific differences were observed for 26 biomarkers, indicating the role of the child's sex in exposure levels. Additionally, regional differences were noted, with Hexachlorobenzene varying significantly across the different French regions. Nicotine presented both the highest concentration (16303 pg/mg) and highest median concentration (81 pg/mg) measured in the children's hair. Statistically significant correlations between the levels of biomarkers found in the hair samples of the mothers and their respective children were observed for fipronil (correlation coefficient = 0.32, p = 0.03), fipronil sulfone (correlation coefficient = 0.34, p = 0.02) and azoxystrobin (correlation coefficient = 0.29, p = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights the elevated exposure levels of young children to various pollutants, highlighting the influence of sex and geography. Hair analysis emerges as a crucial tool for monitoring endocrine disruptors, offering insights into exposure risks and reinforcing the need for protective measures against these harmful substances.

Unified Method for Target and Non-Target Monitoring of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Fruit Juices by Gas Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

A new polyvalent wide-scope analytical method, valid for both raw and processed (juices) fruits, combining target and non-target strategies, has been developed and validated to determine low concentrations of 260 pesticides, as well as many potential non-target substances and metabolites. The target approach has been validated according to SANTE Guide requirements. Trueness, precision, linearity, and robustness values were validated in raw fruit (apple) and juice (apple juice) as representative solid and liquid food commodities. Recoveries were between 70-120% and two ranges of linearity were observed: 0.5-20 μg kg^-1 (0.5-20 μg L^-1 apple juice) and 20-100 μg kg^-1 (20-100 μg L^-1 apple juice). The limits of quantification (LOQs) reached were lower than 0.2 μg kg^-1 in apple (0.2 μg L^-1 apple juice) in most cases. The developed method, based on QuEChERS extraction followed by gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS), achieves part-per-trillions lower limits, which allowed the detection of 18 pesticides in commercial samples. The non-target approach is based on a retrospective analysis of suspect compounds, which has been optimized to detect up to 25 additional compounds, increasing the scope of the method. This made it possible to confirm the presence of two pesticide metabolites which were not considered in the target screening, phtamlimide and tetrahydrophthalimide.

Impact of Pesticide Exposure among Rural and Urban Female Population. An Overview

Pesticides are substances that have become widely used in agriculture and the human exposure to these substances may cause adverse health outcomes. Non-occupational exposure to them can come from many sources, such as food or water. For occupational exposure, many studies have been conducted in men, as they have been mostly in charge of work related to these substances. Nonetheless, the information available concerning the exposure in women is very scarce. In addition, an important differentiation between rural and urban areas has been established, rural areas being known as the most exposed ones due to plantation fields. However, the application of higher concentrations of herbicides in small urban areas is taking a lot of importance currently as well. Regardless of gender, the conditions of exposure, and the environment, the exposure to these pesticides can have different effects on health from early life stages, resulting in different outcomes ranging from neurodevelopmental effects in newborns to different types of cancers. In this review, we discussed the toxicity of the most commonly used pesticides and the main impact on the health of the general population, focusing mainly on the effect in women from both rural and urban areas, and the different stages of development, from pregnancy or lactation to the outcomes of these exposures for their children.