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John L. Adgate,¹ Dana B. Barr,² C. Andrew Clayton,³ Lynn E. Eberly,¹ Natalie C.G. Freeman,⁴ Paul J. Lioy,⁴ Larry L. Needham,² Edo D. Pellizzari,³ James J. Quackenboss,⁵ Amit Roy,⁴ and Ken Sexton¹

¹School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
²National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
³Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
⁴Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
⁵U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Abstract

The Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study is a probability-based sample of 102 children 3-13 years old who were monitored for commonly used pesticides. During the summer of 1997, first-morning-void urine samples (1-3 per child) were obtained for 88% of study children and analyzed for metabolites of insecticides and herbicides: carbamates and related compounds (1-NAP) , atrazine (AM) , malathion (MDA) , and chlorpyrifos and related compounds (TCPy) . TCPy was present in 93% of the samples, whereas 1-NAP, MDA, and AM were detected in 45%, 37%, and 2% of samples, respectively. Measured intrachild means ranged from 1.4 µg/L for MDA to 9.2 µg/L for TCPy, and there was considerable intrachild variability. For children providing three urine samples, geometric mean TCPy levels were greater than the detection limit in 98% of the samples, and nearly half the children had geometric mean 1-NAP and MDA levels greater than the detection limit. Interchild variability was significantly greater than intrachild variability for 1-NAP (p = 0.0037) and TCPy (p < 0.0001) . The four metabolites measured were not correlated within urine samples, and children's metabolite levels did not vary systematically by sex, age, race, household income, or putative household pesticide use. On a log scale, mean TCPy levels were significantly higher in urban than in nonurban children (7.2 vs. 4.7 µg/L ; p = 0.036) . Weighted population mean concentrations were 3.9 [standard error (SE) = 0.7 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) , 2.5, 5.3] µg/L for 1-NAP, 1.7 (SE = 0.3 ; 95% CI, 1.1, 2.3) µg/L for MDA, and 9.6 (SE = 0.9 ; 95% CI, 7.8, 11) µg/L for TCPy. The weighted population results estimate the overall mean and variability of metabolite levels for more than 84,000 children in the census tracts sampled. Levels of 1-NAP were lower than reported adult reference range concentrations, whereas TCPy concentrations were substantially higher. Concentrations of MDA were detected more frequently and found at higher levels in children than in a recent nonprobability-based sample of adults. Overall, Minnesota children's TCPy and MDA levels were higher than in recent population-based studies of adults in the United States, but the relative magnitude of intraindividual variability was similar for adults and children. Key words: children's health, exposure assessment, Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study (MNCPES) , National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) , National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) , organophosphate pesticides, urinary biomarkers. Environ Health Perspect 109:583-590 (2001) . [Online 22 May 2001]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109p583-590adgate/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to J.L. Adgate, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, MMC 807, Room 1260, 420 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. Telephone: (612) 624-2601. Fax: (612) 626-0650. E-mail: jadgate@umn.edu

We thank the families who participated in the survey for their cooperation and M. Bollenbeck for his assistance with the data analysis. MNCPES was funded in part through the NHEXAS Pesticides and PAH Module Cooperative Agreement R821902 between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the consortium of Research Triangle Institute/Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (RTI/EOHSI) , by U.S. EPA STAR (Science to Achieve Results) Grant R825283 to the University of Minnesota, and by a grant from the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources.

Received 20 October 2000 ; accepted 12 March 2001.