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a useful reference



 Environmental Health P E R S P E C T I V E S
doi:10.1289/ehp.5754 (available at http://dx.doi.org/)
Online 31 October 2002

Organophosphorus pesticide exposure of urban and suburban pre-school children
with organic and conventional diets
Cynthia L. Curl, Richard A. Fenske, Kai Elgethun
Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Community Medicine,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7234.
Abstract
Organophosphorus (OP) pesticide exposure from diet was assessed by biological monitoring among Seattle pre-school children. Parents kept food diaries for three days prior to urine collection, and distinguished organic and conventional foods based on label information. Children were then classified as having consumed either organic or conventional diets based on analysis of the diary data. Residential pesticide use was also recorded for each home. Twentyfour hour urine samples were collected from 18 children with organic diets and 21 children with conventional diets, and analyzed for five OP pesticide metabolites. Significantly higher median concentrations of total dimethyl alkylphosphate metabolites were found than total diethyl alkylphosphate metabolites (0.06 and 0.02 µmol/L, respectively; p=.0001). The median total dimethyl metabolite concentration was approximately six times higher for children with conventional diets than for children with organic diets (0.17 and 0.03 µmol/L, p=.0003); mean concentrations differed by a factor of nine (0.34 and 0.04 µmol/L). Dose estimates were calculated from urinary dimethyl metabolites and from agricultural pesticide use data, assuming that all exposure came from a single pesticide. The dose estimates suggest that consumption of organic fruits, vegetables and juice can reduce children’s exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s current guidelines, thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a range of negligible risk. Consumption of organic produce appears to provide a relatively simple means for parents to reduce their children’s exposure to
organophosphorus pesticides.

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