Children’s Exposures to Pyrethroid Insecticides at Home: A Review of Data Collected in Published Exposure Measurement Studies Conducted in the United States

Pyrethroid insecticides are frequently used to control insects in residential and agriculture settings in the United States and worldwide. As a result, children can be potentially exposed to pyrethroid residues in food and at home. This review summarizes data reported in 15 published articles from observational exposure measurement studies conducted from 1999 to present that examined children’s (5 months to 17 years of age) exposures to pyrethroids in media including floor wipes, floor dust, food, air, and/or urine collected at homes in the United States. At least seven different pyrethroids were detected in wipe, dust, solid food, and indoor air samples. Permethrin was the most frequently detected (>50%) pyrethroid in these media, followed by cypermethrin (wipes, dust, and food). 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), a urinary metabolite of several pyrethroids, was the most frequently (≥67%) detected pyrethroid biomarker. Results across studies indicate that these children were likely exposed to several pyrethroids, but primarily to permethrin and cypermethrin, from several sources including food, dust, and/or on surfaces at residences. Dietary ingestion followed by nondietary ingestion were the dominate exposure routes for these children, except in homes with frequent pesticide applications (dermal followed by dietary ingestion). Urinary 3-PBA concentration data confirm that the majority of the children sampled were exposed to one or more pyrethroids.

[1]  Ord,et al.  Integrated Risk Information System , 2013 .

[2]  R. Gilliom,et al.  Occurrence and potential sources of pyrethroid insecticides in stream sediments from seven U.S. metropolitan areas. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[3]  Olivier Thomas,et al.  Organic contamination of settled house dust, a review for exposure assessment purposes. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[4]  J. Xue,et al.  Internal exposure to pollutants and sexual maturation in Flemish adolescents , 2011 .

[5]  Nicolle S. Tulve,et al.  Review of Pesticide Urinary Biomarker Measurements from Selected US EPA Children’s Observational Exposure Studies , 2011, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[6]  H. Kaneko Pyrethroids: mammalian metabolism and toxicity. , 2011, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[7]  A. Hubbard,et al.  Pesticides in house dust from urban and farmworker households in California: an observational measurement study , 2011, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[8]  J. Bonde,et al.  Parental occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and male genital malformations: A study in the danish national birth cohort study , 2011, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[9]  J. Chuang,et al.  Multiresidue analysis of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in duplicate-diet solid food by pressurized liquid extraction , 2010, Journal of environmental science and health. Part. B, Pesticides, food contaminants, and agricultural wastes.

[10]  Chensheng Lu,et al.  Assessing Children’s Dietary Pesticide Exposure: Direct Measurement of Pesticide Residues in 24-Hr Duplicate Food Samples , 2010, Environmental health perspectives.

[11]  Bryan L. Williams,et al.  Urinary Concentrations of Metabolites of Pyrethroid Insecticides in the General U.S. Population: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2002 , 2010, Environmental health perspectives.

[12]  Nicolle S. Tulve,et al.  Organophosphorus and pyrethroid insecticide urinary metabolite concentrations in young children living in a southeastern United States city. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[13]  A. Riederer,et al.  Pyrethroid and organophosphorus pesticides in composite diet samples from Atlanta, USA adults. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[14]  P. Dumas,et al.  Assessment of Exposure to Pyrethroids and Pyrethrins in a Rural Population of the Montérégie Area, Quebec, Canada , 2009, Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene.

[15]  A. Bradman Pesticides and their metabolites in the homes and urine of farmworker children living in the Salinas Valley, CA , 2009, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[16]  Melanie A. Pearson,et al.  The attribution of urban and suburban children's exposure to synthetic pyrethroid insecticides: a longitudinal assessment , 2009, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[17]  M. Nishioka,et al.  Pyrethroid pesticides and their metabolites in vacuum cleaner dust collected from homes and day-care centers. , 2008, Environmental research.

[18]  P. Dumas,et al.  Biological monitoring of exposure to pyrethrins and pyrethroids in a metropolitan population of the Province of Quebec, Canada. , 2008, Environmental research.

[19]  D. Barr,et al.  Diet and Nondiet Predictors of Urinary 3-Phenoxybenzoic Acid in NHANES 1999–2002 , 2008, Environmental health perspectives.

[20]  Rhona Julien,et al.  Pesticide loadings of select organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in urban public housing , 2008, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[21]  L. Naeher,et al.  Multimedia measurements and activity patterns in an observational pilot study of nine young children , 2008, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[22]  D. Barr,et al.  Pesticides and their Metabolites in the Homes and Urine of Farmworker Children Living in the Salinas Valley, CA , 2007, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

[23]  J. Chuang,et al.  An observational study of 127 preschool children at their homes and daycare centers in Ohio: environmental pathways to cis- and trans-permethrin exposure. , 2007, Environmental research.

[24]  Scott Bartell,et al.  A Longitudinal Approach to Assessing Urban and Suburban Children’s Exposure to Pyrethroid Pesticides , 2006, Environmental health perspectives.

[25]  I. Momas,et al.  Insecticide Urinary Metabolites in Nonoccupationally Exposed Populations , 2005, Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B, Critical reviews.

[26]  Linda S Sheldon,et al.  Exposures of preschool children to chlorpyrifos and its degradation product 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol in their everyday environments , 2005, Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology.

[27]  D. Barr,et al.  The Presence of Dialkylphosphates in Fresh Fruit Juices: Implication For Organophosphorus Pesticide Exposure and Risk Assessments , 2005, Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A.

[28]  W. House,et al.  Diffusion of the synthetic pyrethroid permethrin into bed-sediments. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[29]  Kevin M. Crofton,et al.  Developmental Neurotoxicity of Pyrethroid Insecticides: Critical Review and Future Research Needs , 2004, Environmental health perspectives.

[30]  Samuel P. Caudill,et al.  Urinary Creatinine Concentrations in the U.S. Population: Implications for Urinary Biologic Monitoring Measurements , 2004, Environmental health perspectives.

[31]  M. Lydy,et al.  Distribution and toxicity of sediment-associated pesticides in agriculture-dominated water bodies of California's Central Valley. , 2004, Environmental science & technology.

[32]  J. Gan,et al.  Determination of enantiomers of synthetic pyrethroids in water by solid phase microextraction - enantioselective gas chromatography. , 2004, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[33]  B. Snively,et al.  Agricultural and residential pesticides in wipe samples from farmworker family residences in North Carolina and Virginia. , 2003, Environmental health perspectives.

[34]  D. Sugiri,et al.  Pyrethroids used indoors--biological monitoring of exposure to pyrethroids following an indoor pest control operation. , 2003, International journal of hygiene and environmental health.

[35]  K. Wallace,et al.  Mechanisms of pyrethroid neurotoxicity: implications for cumulative risk assessment. , 2002, Toxicology.

[36]  Dana Sargent,et al.  Mechanisms of pyrethroid neurotoxicity: implications for cumulative risk assessment. , 2002, Toxicology.

[37]  M. O'Rourke,et al.  Pesticide exposure and creatinine variation among young children , 2000, Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology.

[38]  G. Leng,et al.  Biological monitoring of pyrethroids in blood and pyrethroid metabolites in urine: applications and limitations. , 1997, The Science of the total environment.

[39]  C. Eadsforth,et al.  Human dose-excretion studies with pyrethroid insecticides cypermethrin and alphacypermethrin: relevance for biological monitoring. , 1988, Xenobiotica; the fate of foreign compounds in biological systems.

[40]  C. Eadsforth,et al.  Human dose-excretion studies with the pyrethroid insecticide, cypermethrin. , 1983, Xenobiotica; the fate of foreign compounds in biological systems.

[41]  D. H. Hutson,et al.  Species differences in the metabolism of 3-phenoxybenzoic acid. , 1981, Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals.