Pesticide Residues in Soil, Water, Indoor Home Surface and Children's Hands

Abstract

Pesticides are commonly used in Thailand for pest management both on the farm and in the home. This research measured pesticide residues in home and farm soil, drinking water, surface water sources on the farm, indoor home surfaces and the hands of farm children during the rainy and dry seasons in three provinces of Thailand (Nakhornsawan and Phitsanulok provinces where the farms used chemical pesticides and fertilizers and Yasothorn province where the farms were organic). The samples were analyzed for parent pesticides (20 organophosphates, 7 carbamates, 7 pyrethroids, glyphosate, paraquat and 3 triazines including atrazine) using standard AOAC analytical protocols. The results showed that for the organic farms in Yasothorn province, no pesticides were detected in soil, water, indoor surfaces or children’s hand wipes during the dry season but fipronil-sulfone were found on children’s hands, indoor home surfaces and cypermethrin were found on children’s hands during the rainy season. In addition, some organophosphate pesticides were also found in pond water, home soil, farm soil and drinking water due to flooding in some areas of the province. In the chemical use farms of Nakornsawan and Phitsanulok province, the quantity of pesticides found in dry and rainy seasons were not significantly different. However, more types of pesticides were found in the rainy season. Pesticides that were found included paraquat dichloride and chlorpyrifos ethyl in soil farm, paraquat dichloride, chlorpyrifos ethyl and cypermethrin in home soil, atrazine, diazinon, carbofuran and ametryn in pond water, atrazine and profenofos in drinking water. Cypermethrin was also found in indoor home surface and children’s hand wipes during both the rainy and dry seasons.