The Washington Aerial Spray Drift Study: Children’s Exposure to Methamidophos in an Agricultural Community Following Fixed-Wing Aircraft Applications

Details

• Personal Author:
  Elgethun K ; Fenske RA ; Heber V ; Lu C ; Weppner S ; Yost MG
• Description:
  This study characterized exposures of eight children living in an agricultural community near potato fields that were treated by aerial application with the organophosphorus (OP) insecticide, methamidophos (O,S-dimethyl phosphoramidothioate). Exposure monitoring included air and deposition samples in the outdoor community environment, outdoor and indoor air samples at each residence, wipe samples of playground equipment, toys, indoor surfaces, and children's hands, and periodic urine samples. Monitoring occurred prior to, the day of, and 1 day following applications. Methamidophos deposition in the community was very low compared to deposition inside the boundaries of the treated fields. Community air concentrations increased from 0.05 microg/m3 (prespray) to 0.11 and 0.48 microg/m3 (spray day morning and afternoon, respectively), decreasing to 0.10 microg/m3 on the postspray day. Air concentrations outside residences followed a similar pattern; indoor levels did not exceed 0.03 pg/m3. Methamidophos residues were found on playground equipment following applications, but not on indoor residential surfaces. The median hand wipe levels increased from < 0.02 (prespray) to 0.08 microg/sample (spray day), decreasing to 0.05 microg/sample (postspray day). Median concentrations of the primary methamidophos urinary metabolite were 61 microg/l before 1100 hours on the spray day, 170 microg/l after 1100 hours on the spray day, and 114 microg/l on the postspray day. Spray day metabolite levels were correlated with time outside on the spray day (rs = 0.68), with spray day hand wipe levels (rs = 0.67), and with postspray day metabolite levels (rs = 0.64). Postspray day metabolites levels were also positively associated with postspray day hand wipe levels (rs = 0.66). The documentation of children's exposure in this study does not necessarily mean that risks for these children were significantly altered, since nearly all children in the United States are exposed to some level of OP pesticides through dietary intake and other pathways. The association of metabolite levels with time spent outside, and the absence of methamidophos in homes indicates that children's exposures occurred primarily outdoors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Hypersensitivity Insecticides Occupational Health Safety Urine
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-industry Chemical-hypersensitivity Children Insecticide-poisoning Organophosphorus-pesticides Urinalysis Urine-chemistry
• ISSN:
  1559-0631
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  387-396
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031446
• Citation:
  J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2006 Sep; 16(5):387-396
• Contact Point Address:
  Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7234
• Email:
  rfenske@u.washington.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20010930
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5a5bfcca9be13282dcffb199fbbb0d6740ceb39eb0bc13a981566c57672499b54fec046e811df77d9ab9a835d5792c559fc78ea6fd70354163d4220a24bcfaa1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185742/cdc_185742_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 316.24 KB ]