- Full (HTML) - Related EHP Articles - Purchase This Issue

Lilia Rivero-Rodriguez,¹ Victor Hugo Borja-Aburto,² Carlos Santos-Burgoa,² Stefan Waliszewskiy,³ Camilo Rios,⁴ and Veronica Cruz²

¹Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado, Veracruz, México; ²Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, México; ³Instituto de Medicina Forence, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México; ⁴Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugjía, Mexico City

Abstract

DDT has systematically been used in sanitation campaigns against malaria in Mexico. To assess chronic occupational exposure, we studied a group of workers dedicated to spraying houses to control malaria vectors in the state of Veracruz. Exposure was directly estimated for a subgroup of 40 workers by measuring DDT metabolites in adipose tissue samples and indirectly estimated for 331 workers by using a questionnaire to determine their occupational history. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 70 years, and 80% of the workers had been employed in the sanitation campaign for at least 20 years. The mean concentrations of extractable lipids found in adipose tissue samples were as follows: total DDT, 104.48 g/g ; p,p'-DDE, 60.98 g/g ; p,p'-DDT, 31.0 g/g ; o,p'-DDT, 2.10 g/g ; and p,p'-DDD, 0.95 g/g. The DDT metabolite p,p'-DDE was selected as the indicator of chronic exposure. An index of chronic occupational exposure was constructed according to worker position and based on the historical duration and intensity of DDT application. A linear model including this index, the use of protective gear, and recent weight loss explained 55% of the variation of p,p'-DDE concentrations in adipose tissue. By this model, the predicted values of p,p'-DDE concentration in adipose tissue for the 331 workers are between 9.56 g/g and 298.4 g/g of fat, with a geometric mean of 67.41 g/g. These high levels of DDT in adipose tissue call for exposure prevention programs and the promotion of more secure application measures and hygiene. We also discuss the use of indirect measures of DDT exposure in epidemiological studies of health effects. Key words: DDT, DDT exposure, exposure assessment, occupational exposures. Environ Health Perspectives 105:98-101 (1997)

Address correspondence to V.H. Borja-Aburto, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Av. Universidad 655, Sta. María Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, Morelos, C.P. 62508, Mexico.

This study was supported by Servicios Coordinados de Salud Pública en el Estado de Veracruz, Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE) en Veracruz, Fundación Miguel Alemán, A.C., and the MacArthur Foundation.

Received 8 July 1996 ; accepted 27 September 1996.