Human Elimination of Organochlorine Pesticides: Blood, Urine, and Sweat Study

Abstract

Background. Many individuals have been exposed to organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) through food, water, air, dermal exposure, and/or vertical transmission. Due to enterohepatic reabsorption and affinity to adipose tissue, OCPs are not efficiently eliminated from the human body and may accrue in tissues. Many epidemiological studies demonstrate significant exposure-disease relationships suggesting OCPs can alter metabolic function and potentially lead to illness. There is limited study of interventions to facilitate OCP elimination from the human body. This study explored the efficacy of induced perspiration as a means to eliminate OCPs. Methods. Blood, urine, and sweat (BUS) were collected from 20 individuals. Analysis of 23 OCPs was performed using dual-column gas chromatography with electron-capture detectors. Results. Various OCPs and metabolites, including DDT, DDE, methoxychlor, endrin, and endosulfan sulfate, were excreted into perspiration. Generally, sweat samples showed more frequent OCP detection than serum or urine analysis. Many OCPs were not readily detected in blood testing while still being excreted and identified in sweat. No direct correlation was found among OCP concentrations in the blood, urine, or sweat compartments. Conclusions. Sweat analysis may be useful in detecting some accrued OCPs not found in regular serum testing. Induced perspiration may be a viable clinical tool for eliminating some OCPs.

Physiology of sweat gland function: The roles of sweating and sweat composition in human health

“…Detoxification methods include several hours per day of sauna bathing to stimulate excessive sweating, resulting supposedly in purification of the body and release of toxins from the blood. Some proponents of this method claim that increasing sweating via exercise or heat stress (sauna) is an effective clinical tool to protect against or overcome illness and disease [311][312][313]. Others suggest that physical activity leads to better health outcomes as a result of accelerated toxin elimination via thermal sweating [314,315].…”

“…In a series of studies, Genuis et al [311][312][313][316][317][318] measured the concentration of environmental toxicants in the blood, sweat, and urine of humans. The overall finding of these studies was that many chemicals, including persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, bisphenol A (BPA), and phthalate are excreted in sweat.…”

“…First, many of these studies used sweat collection methods that are susceptible to surface contamination and sweat evaporation, which would artificially increase the concentration of toxicants measured in sweat samples. For instance, in most of these studies [311][312][313][314][316][317][318], sweat was collected by the subjects on their own (uncontrolled, unsupervised), from any site on their body, by scraping sweat from the skin surface with a stainless steel spatula into a glass jar. With these methods, it is probable that sweat samples were tainted with sebum secretions.…”

“…Scraping methods increase the likelihood of skin surface (epidermal cells) contamination because scraped sweat contains 4-10x more lipid than clean sweat [319]; potentially explaining the high concentrations of some the of lipophilic toxicants in sweat. Furthermore, the method of sweat stimulation (exercise, sauna) and timing (with respect to how long sweating had commenced before collection) were not controlled [311][312][313][314][316][317][318]. Other studies [280,320] used the arm bag method which is also susceptible to skin surface contamination.…”

Self-reported residential pesticide use and survival after breast cancer

“…Persistent pesticides are those that bioaccumulate in the environment and have long biological half-lives, between 5 and 15 years in humans (Genuis et al, 2016;Wolff, 1999;Wolff et al, 2005). These pesticides are also lipophilic, leading to their storage in the fat tissue of living organisms (Genuis et al, 2016). Examples of persistent pesticides include the organochlorines dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane (DDT), chlordane, and dieldrin.…”