Glyphosate Biomonitoring for Farmers and Their Families: Results from the Farm Family Exposure Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Acquavella JF ; Alexander BH ; Baker B ; Bleeke M ; Chapman P ; Gustin C ; Mandel JS ; Acquavella JF ; Alexander BH ; Baker B ; Bleeke M ; Chapman P ; Gustin C ; Mandel JS
• Description:
  Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup agricultural herbicides and other herbicide formulations that are widely used for agricultural, forestry, and residential weed control. As part of the Farm Family Exposure Study, we evaluated urinary glyphosate concentrations for 48 farmers, their spouses, and their 79 children (4-18 years of age) . We evaluated 24-hr composite urine samples for each family member the day before, the day of, and for 3 days after a glyphosate application. Sixty percent of farmers had detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine on the day of application. The geometric mean (GM) concentration was 3 ppb, the maximum value was 233 ppb, and the highest estimated systemic dose was 0.004 mg/kg. Farmers who did not use rubber gloves had higher GM urinary concentrations than did other farmers (10 ppb vs. 2.0 ppb) . For spouses, 4% had detectable levels in their urine on the day of application. Their maximum value was 3 ppb. For children, 12% had detectable glyphosate in their urine on the day of application, with a maximum concentration of 29 ppb. All but one of the children with detectable concentrations had helped with the application or were present during herbicide mixing, loading, or application. None of the systemic doses estimated in this study approached the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reference dose for glyphosate of 2 mg/kg/day. Nonetheless, it is advisable to minimize exposure to pesticides, and this study did identify specific practices that could be modified to reduce the potential for exposure. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Agriculture Biochemistry Chemistry Chemistry, Analytic Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Family Farmers Forestry Hazardous Substances Herbicides Hypersensitivity Insecticides Occupational Health Safety Urine

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Age-groups Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-processes Agricultural-workers Analytical-chemistry Analytical-processes Author Keywords: Biomonitoring Biochemical-analysis Biohazards Biological-effects Biological-function Biological-systems Chemical-hypersensitivity Chemical-reactions Children Dose-response Epidemiologic Studies Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Families Forestry-workers Glyphosate Mathematical-models Pesticide Exposure Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Quantitative-analysis Statistical-analysis Toxic-effects Urinalysis Urine-chemistry

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• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Georgia ; Minnesota ; Missouri ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  321-326
• Volume:
  112
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037510
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2004 Mar; 112(3):321-326
• Contact Point Address:
  J. Acquavella, Senior Fellow, Epidemiology, Monsanto Company, mail stop A2NE, 800 North Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63167
• Email:
  john.f.acquavella@monsanto.com
• CAS Registry Number:
  Glyphosate (CAS RN 1071-83-6) ; Glyphosate (CAS RN 1071-83-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dc484d56f586240e8c0633a5da510450361dc2ba3adf8ec9d7bc787dbcbb8aead844b680ae46657200a25eb3a1f23898c0538f23f25a43d173d8c1ac86e8bbdc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188592/cdc_188592_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 109.61 KB ]