Pesticide residues in eggs resulting from the dusting and short-time feeding of low levels of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides to hens

Abstract

Working levels," used by the Florida Department of Agriculture prior to issuance of FDA action level guidelines, were used as criteria. For whole eggs these levels were 0.05 p.p.m. for DDT, BHC, lindane, and methoxychlor and 0.01 for aldrin, dieldrin, and chlordane. The dusting of laying hens with "safe" insecticides contaminated with as little as 200 p.p.m. of DDT caused residues in the egg to exceed the working level. Dusts with up to 300 p.p.m. of BHC did not exceed 0.05 p.p.m. in the eggs. A dust contaminated with With the passage in 1954 of the Miller Amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, pesticide residues became a serious problem to producers of poultry and food and feedstuff's. No tolerances have been established for chlorinated hydrocarbon residues in poultry, meat, and eggs, and, in the absence of such established tolerances, a zero level has automatically been the tolerance level. Some enforcement agencies, however, have been using so-called "working zeros" or "working levels," above which the product would be considered unacceptable and legal action taken. Action level guides were issued (Food and Drug Administration, 1967) for certain pesticides of concern to the poultry industry. These levels were considerably higher than those previously used by the Florida Department of Agriculture (Table I). For the studies reported in this paper the working levels of the Florida Department of Agriculture were used as levels of unacceptability. The Food and Drug Administration action level guides are not to be considered as predictions of the negligible residue tolerances that may be established at a later date.Early studies of pesticides and poultry dealt primarily with toxicity of the pesticide to the birds themselves. In recent years there have been a number of published reports on pesticide residues in both poultry and eggs. In many of these studies levels fed resulted in residues much above acceptable levels. One of the most complete and practical studies to date on the feeding of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides to laying hens was conducted by Cummings et al. (1966). Low levels (0.05, 0.15, and 0.45 p.p.m.) of lindane, DDT, heptachlor epoxide, dieldrin, and endrin were fed to hens and the accumulation and depletion of the pesticides in eggs determined.

Residues in chickens given DDT

“…The o,p'-DDT is broken down to , '-DDT and then to DDE in living avian tissues. In dead avian tissues, the , '-DDT is metabolized to DDD.Residues of DDT and metabolites have been determined in eggs and chicken tissues (Ecobichon and Saschenbrecker, 1968;Graves et al, 1969;Herrick et al, 1969) after shortterm feeding trials. In other studies, the residues were traced after injections of DDT and metabolites into the avian embryo (Abou-Donia and Menzel, 1968; Guthrie and Donaldson, 1970).…”

Residues of lindane and its metabolites in eggs, chicks, and body tissues of hen pheasants after ingestion of lindane‐14C via treated wheat seed or gelatin capsules1

“…The 14 total C-labeled residues in eggs rose sharply reaching maximum of 19 ppm on the 8th d£iy. It was also observed by Herrick et al 16 that the highest level of residues in eggs is reached 7-9 days after feeding hends with diet containing aldrin, DDT, lindane and chlordane. Residues continued to be excreted via the eggs over a long period of time.…”

Location of lindane, dieldrin, and DDT compounds in eggs

“…The low density lipoprotein, lipovitellenin, contains 80-90% lipid, of which approximately 26% is phospholipid; whereas the high density lipoprotein, lipovitellin, contains 18-23% fat which is made up of about 50% phospholipid (Cook, 1968). Several studies have shown that feeding pesticide-contaminated feed to hens results in deposition of the pesticide in the eggs (Cummings et al, 1966;Herrick et al, 1969;Stadelman et al, 1965;Wesley et al,1969).…”