Pesticides on Household Surfaces May Influence Dietary Intake of Children

Abstract

The physical and chemical environment influences children's exposures to pesticides in and around the home. Children's activities, which increase their potential for exposure especially during eating, have been captured in the Children's Dietary Intake Model (CDIM). In addition to the chemical exposure associated with the food itself, this model incorporates excess dietary exposures due to handling of food during consumption. To stochastically evaluate CDIM, distributions of measured, and in some cases estimated, model factors were determined from measurements of permethrin, chlorpyrifos, and diazinon derived from assembled databases and laboratory experiments. Using the distributions of these factors, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to obtain distributions of total dietary intake of pesticides. To target the sources of pesticide contamination that were influencing total dietary intake, each factor was evaluated. We found pesticide surface concentration to be highly influential. By excluding surface concentration, we were also able to determine the influence of the other factors based on the F-statistic. Transfer efficiencies, followed by pesticide residue in consumed foods and amount of food consumed, were the next most influential factors within the model. With these distributions for model inputs, CDIM has the potential to more accurately predict total dietary intake of a contaminant by a child.

Relative Pesticide and Exposure Route Contribution to Aggregate and Cumulative Dose in Young Farmworker Children

“…In addition, the food may have higher pesticide residues depending upon how it is stored in these homes that may have increased residential pesticide contamination due to proximity to agricultural fields or through direct contact with contaminant surfaces [57]. Although few pesticides were detected in the duplicate diet measurements, these measurements do account for potential contamination during food storage and preparation.…”

Assessing exposure of young children to common endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the home environment: a review and commentary of the questionnaire-based approach

“…Furthermore, Stapleton et al demonstrated that reported hand-washing behaviour is associated with reduced PBDE concentrations in children's hand-wipe samples, which could lead to decreased exposure to PDBEs via non-dietary ingestion or trans-dermal absorption given that they have previously demonstrated that hand-wipe concentrations of PBDEs are correlated with PBDE body burden (118). Young children may also ingest toxicants through excess dietary exposure that occurs when toxicants transfer from their hands or other surfaces in the home to foods that they then consume (119). No studies have assessed -through questionnaires -whether exposure of children to EDCs may be modified by variables that could reduce excess dietary exposure like washing hands prior to eating.…”

“…In children, excess dietary exposure, i.e., ingestion of toxicants that have transferred to foods from contaminated hands or surfaces, may contribute substantially to total exposure (119). Additionally, as discussed earlier, exposure through the diet to plasticisers may be modified by how plastic food contact materials are used, what foods they come into contact with and how the food is prepared.…”

Development of a questionnaire-based insecticide exposure assessment method and comparison with urinary insecticide biomarkers in young Australian children

“…Although analytical methods for measuring 88 Figure 1 Major exposure pathways of young children to insecticides: mechanisms for increased exposure risk relative to adults Increased exposure via inhalation is attributable to higher concentrations of insecticides found in the infant breathing zone, compared to the adult breathing zone, and the relatively greater intake of air by infants (Fenske, Black et al 1990). Frequent hand-to-mouth behaviour predisposes infants to greater non-dietary insecticide exposure (Melnyk, Byron et al 2011), and the relatively greater consumption of food by infants compared to adults also contributes to greater dietary intake (Roberts and Karr 2012). Increased contact with contaminants found on the floor in dust, as well as the greater relative surface area of infants, predisposes to greater levels of dermal absorption (Makri, Goveia et al 2004).…”