Prenatal Herbicide Exposure in Children of Urban Women in Mexico

Abstract

Exposure to herbicides in neonates, described in this article, was detected from the realization of a biomonitoring study, which was proposed due to the concern and academic interest on identifying the probable presence of agrochemicals in this population. The sample consisted of 280 neonates from a University Hospital. The determination of herbicides was by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Nine herbicides were studied, from which three were found: Molinate in 67 neonates (23.9%), statistical mean of 408, SD 229.3; 2-4D in 64 neonates (22.8%), mean 38, SD 5.6; Glufosinate in 34, (12.1%), mean 575, SD 385.2. None of the mothers reported a history of voluntary exposure to herbicides; the maternal route is the route of exposure. From this type of monitoring, the magnitude of herbicides present in the neonatal population cannot be underestimated, as it becomes important when at least 50% of the world's population lives in cities and this number is expected to increase to 60% by 2030.