Pesticides contaminated dust exposure, risk diagnosis and exposure markers in occupational and residential settings of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

There are few studies documenting the dust loaded with pesticides as a potential non-dietary exposure source for occupational worker and populations living near agricultural farms and pesticides formulation plants. In present study we have evaluated the pesticide concentration in dust from potential sites and relevant health risk from dust ingestion. Furthermore, the effect of currently used pesticides was investigated on blood and urine parameters of subjects: farmer, factory worker, urban resident and rural resident and controlled subjects with presumably different levels of exposure. The urinary metabolites (TCPY and IMPY) were quantified as biomarkers of exposure to chlorpyrifos and diazinon in relation with biomarkers of effect including BuChE, LH, FSH, testosterone and oxidative stress. Results showed that chlorpyrifos and diazinon were present in higher concentration in dust and posed a high health risk to exposed subjects. The mean SOD value was high among the farmer (3048U/g Hb) followed by factory worker (1677.6U/g Hb). The urinary biomarkers - TCPY and IMPY- were found higher in exposed subjects as compared to control. Furthermore, testosterone was found in higher concentration in factory worker than control (12.63ng/ml vs 4.61ng/ml respectively). A decreased BuChE activity was noticed in occupational group and significant differences were observed in control verses exposed subjects. The PCA analysis evidenced the impact of pesticides on exposure biomarkers and male reproductive hormones. The study suggests that dust contaminated with pesticides engenders significant health risk particularly related to the nervous and endocrine system, not only for occupational workers exposed to direct ingestion but also for nearby residential community. Succinctly putting: Pesticides loaded dust in the city of Lahore, being a high priority concern for the government of Pakistan, demands to be addressed.

Environmental Exposure to Pesticides and Breast Cancer in a Region of Intensive Agribusiness Activity in Brazil: A Case-Control Study

“…In Pakistan, research has evaluated the presence of pesticides in dust and their correlation with blood and urine metabolites of potentially agriculturally exposed individuals. The results indicated a greater presence of these biomarkers in exposed individuals when compared to the control group [31].…”

Organophosphate toxicity: updates of malathion potential toxic effects in mammals and potential treatments

“…Occupational and nonoccupational exposures to MAL have been reported in adults and children (Eskenazi et al 2007;Salvatore et al 2008;Fenske et al 2013;Voorhees et al 2016;Smith et al 2017). Workers of MAL manufactories, people who work in agriculture and their families, those living near farms, and those performing the home application of pesticides or eating food highly contaminated with pesticides are highly susceptible to MAL intoxication (Jaga and Dharmani 2003;Waheed et al 2017). MAL toxicity is mainly caused by its metabolites and is affected by different variables including product purity (as contaminants may aggravate MAL toxicity), route of exposure, nutritional status, genetics, and gender (Moore et al 2011).…”

Exposure assessment of selected pesticide residues using occurrence data in foods and serum samples in Pakistan

“…In the year 2017, the total global pesticide usage was more than 4 million tones with a major portion (52.8%) utilized in Asian countries (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2019). Among South Asian countries, Pakistan ranks second in the total pesticide consumption with major use in the agriculture sector (Khan et al, 2020;Waheed et al, 2017). Even though the usage of pesticides in Pakistan decreased dramatically from 0.99 million tons in the year 2012 to 0.92 thousand tons in 2017 (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2019), some persistent pesticides are still present in various environmental media including air, water, and soil (Ali et al, 2018(Ali et al, , 2019Nakano et al, 2016;Nawab et al, 2020;Sohail, 2019;Sultan et al, 2019;Ullah et al, 2019).…”