Fifty million to 60 million people potentially exposed to high levels of groundwater arsenic, which is coincident with areas of irrigation.

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BackgroundEnvironmental pollutant exposure may play certain roles in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetes mellitus including gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We hypothesize that heavy metal exposure may trigger GDM during pregnancy. The objective of this study was to investigate the possible associations between selected heavy metal exposure and GDM risk.MethodsThis investigation is a retrospective case–control study nested within a cohort of 1359 pregnant women. These participants were recruited in Xiamen Maternity and Child Care Hospital, China, during June to July, 2012. All their newborns’ meconium samples were collected. By reviewing the antenatal care records, 166 GDM mothers were screened out from the 1359 participants; 137 of 166 GDM mothers offered their newborns’ meconium samples for the metal analysis. Those 137 mothers were set as the case group. Similarly, 294 healthy mothers without any gestational complication were initially screened out from the rest 1193 non-GDM mothers. 190 of the 294 healthy mothers offered their newborns’ meconium samples for the metal analysis. Those 190 mothers were set as the control group. Arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr) levels in these case–control meconium samples were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The possible association between the metal levels and maternal GDM risk of studied subjects was assessed by binary logistic regression.ResultsGDM prevalence of 12.21% was observed in the investigated 1359 participants. The concentrations of As, Hg, Cr and Cd in studied cases were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of controls. After adjustments for maternal age, pre-pregnant body mass index, gravidity, parity, hepatitis B virus infection, and newborn sex, As, Cd and Cr were found to be positively associated with GDM prevalence in dose-dependent manners. Among them, As was detected in all samples and its levels associated the maternal GDM with the adjusted odds ratios of 3.28 [95% CI 1.24, 8.71], 3.35 [95% CI 1.28, 8.75] and 5.25 [95% CI 1.99, 13.86] for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quartiles, respectively.ConclusionsThe present work implies that exposure to some of the selected metals (noticeably As) may contribute to maternal GDM risk during pregnancy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-015-0004-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Different flame retardants (FRs) namely polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), emerging brominated/chlorinated flame retardants (Br/Cl FRs), and organophosphate FRs (OPFRs) were analyzed in cars, air conditioner (AC) filters and floor dust of different households from Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To the best of our knowledge, this is first study in literature reporting emerging Br/Cl FRs and OPFRs in AC filter dust and also first to report on their occurrence in dust from KSA. Chlorinated alkyl phosphate, penta-BDEs, BDE-209, and decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) were the major chemicals in dust samples from all microenvironments. ΣOPFRs occurred at median concentrations (ng/g dust) of 15,400, 10,500, and 3750 in AC filter, car and house floor dust, respectively. For all analyzed chemicals, relatively lower levels were observed in floor dust than car and AC filter dust. The profiles of FRs in car dust were different from AC filter and floor dust, which reflected their wider application as FR and plasticizer in variety of household and commercial products. For toddlers, assuming high dust intake and 95th percentile concentrations, the computed exposure estimation for BDE-99 was higher than RfD values.

The main objective of the review is to document, assess and analyze the results of the previously reported data on levels of different pesticides in selected fruits and vegetables from Pakistan. The findings of the previous studies clearly indicated that more than 50 % of the samples were contaminated with organophosphate, pyrethroids and organochlorine pesticides. Many studies reported that among fresh fruits and vegetables tomato, apple, melon, mango, grapes, and plum crossed the FAO/WHO permissible limits for these contaminants residual levels. The comparison of other regions showed that observed levels were found above maximum residue limits (MRLs) in 50 % of the samples but were in agreement with the studies from neighboring countries like China and Bangladesh. Higher hazard risk index (HRI) values were calculated for dieldrin, methamidophos, o,p′-DDT, diazinon and p,p′-DDT in apple, mango, banana, melon, potato and onion. The review also highlights that data on pesticide residues in foodstuff is scarce which should be overcome by further extending studies from different areas of Pakistan. In order to ascertain the provision of food suitable for human consumption, it is imperative to monitor pesticides in food commodities by the country's authorities and enforce guidelines based on permissible limits.

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