Evaluation of the relationship between residential orchard density and dimethyl organophosphate pesticide residues in house dust

Abstract

Reducing residential pesticide exposure requires identification of exposure pathways. mCompared to the agriculture worker ‘take-home’ and residential use pathways, evidence of the ‘drift’ pathway to pesticide exposure has been inconsistent.Questionnaire data from individuals (n=99) and dust samples (n=418) from households across three growing seasons in 2011 were from the For Healthy Kids! study. Summed dimethyl organophosphate pesticide (OP) (Azinphos-Methyl, Phosmet, and Malathion) concentrations were quantified from house dust samples. Spatially-weighted orchard densities surrounding households were calculated based on various distances from homes. Regression models tested associations between orchard density, residential pesticide use, agriculture worker residents, and summed dimethyl OP house dust concentrations.Estimated relationships between orchard density and dimethyl OP in house dust were mixed: a 5% increase in orchard density resulted in 0.3% and 0.5% decreases in dimethyl OP house dust concentrations when considering land-cover 750m or 1250m away from households, respectively, but null associations with land-cover 60m or 200m away. Dimethyl OP house dust concentrations were 400% higher within homes where at least two residents were agriculture workers.Despite inconclusive evidence for the drift pathway due to potential for bias, relationships between number of agriculture workers and dimethyl OP house dust concentration underscores the take-home pathway.

Systematic Literature Review of the Take-Home Route of Pesticide Exposure via Biomonitoring and Environmental Monitoring

“…As presented in Table 4, 12 (31%) studies investigated the take-home pathway by measuring pesticides or pesticide metabolites in dust collected from agricultural workers’ homes and vehicles. Supporting the take-home pathway, two recent studies conducted in the U.S. Northwest found that pesticide residues in house dust may increase in relation to the number of residents working in agriculture [44,45]. In another study, Thompson et al (2008) collected dust from 210 farmworker homes and 204 farmworker vehicles [21].…”

Determinants of non-dietary exposure to agricultural pesticides in populations living close to fields: A systematic review

“…Among these studies, one also found an association between the distance to the closest crop field and herbicide exposure; however, distance alone accounted for less of the variance than crop acreage (Ward et al, 2006). One very good quality study found no association between surface area of orchards and residential concentrations of pesticides (Plascak et al, 2019). One medium quality study showed no association between the number of fields in the vicinity and urinary DAPs levels (Royster et al, 2002).…”

Pesticides in Doormat and Floor Dust from Homes Close to Treated Fields: Spatio-Temporal Variance and Determinants of Occurrence and Concentrations

“…A solution to this, is using a bespoke clean doormat for the study period. By doing so, the sample taken from the doormat reflects solely currently used pesticides (Plascak et al, 2019). Only a limited number of studies have compared different dust matrixes (Lu et al, 2000;Moschet et al, 2018;Rostkowski et al, 2019;Dubocq et al, 2021) and few have looked into determinants of occurrence and concentrations of pesticides in indoor dust (Gunier et al, 2011, Deziel et al, 2019.…”