Pesticide Exposure among Latinx Children in Rural Farmworker and Urban Non-Farmworker Communities: Associations with Locality and Season

Abstract

This study uses repeated measures to document the pesticide exposure of rural and urban Latinx children (age eight at baseline), and to compare these children in terms of the frequency and concentration of their exposure to a large set of pesticides, accounting for season. We used silicone wristbands worn for one week up to ten times at quarterly intervals from 2018 to 2022 to assess pesticide exposure in children from rural farmworker (n = 75) and urban non-farmworker (n = 61) families. We determined the detection and concentrations (ng/g) of 72 pesticides and pesticide degradation products in the wristbands using gas chromatography electron capture detection and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The most frequently detected pesticide classes were organochlorines, pyrethroids, and organophosphates. Controlling for season, organochlorine or phenylpyrazole detections were less likely for rural children than for urban children. Detections of organochlorines, pyrethroids, or organophosphates were lower in spring and summer versus winter. Controlling for season, urban children had greater concentrations of organochlorines, while rural children had greater concentrations of pyrethroids and Chlorpyrifos. Pesticide concentrations were lower in winter and spring compared with summer and fall. These results further document that pesticides are ubiquitous in the living environment for children in vulnerable, immigrant communities.

Child exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides measured in urine, wristbands, and household dust and its implications for child health in South Africa: A panel study

“…Of all the OPs and PYRs analyzed across matrices, 83% were detected at least once, with chlorpyrifos showing the highest concentrations in both wristbands and household dust samples. This is in line with recent research showing a high detection frequency of multiple OPs and PYRs measured in silicone wristbands of children and adolescents living in Latina farm-worker communities in California 38,71 and North Carolina 67,72,73 but also in several Peruvian agricultural communities, 74 suggesting the broad use of these insecticides in agriculture. For both OPs and PYRs, the urinary levels observed in this study were lower than those previously reported for farm workers in the Western Cape region, 9,35 but the same order of magnitude as those reported for other children living in the same study areas 10 years previous to our study, 21 likely a result of the similar exposure pathways throughout the years.…”