SIGEXPO project: pesticides exposure level in the french context: burden of environmental exposures and domestic habits

Abstract

Background:General population spent about 85 to 90 % of their time in indoor environment and higher indoor pesticides level might be related to adverse health effect. It has been suggested that the indoor exposure level to pesticides is increased by residential proximity to agricultural pesticide use, but information on overall domestic pesticides contamination is lacking in the literature. In 2012, we sampled indoor dust of 239 French houses to validate a GIS approach aiming to estimate agricultural contribution to pesticide in household dusts. Aim: To characterize domestic pesticide contamination in the Rhône-Alpes region (France) depending on type of dominant farming in surrounding fields, thus accounting for non-agricultural sources by our measurement data. Methods: We sampled 239 houses: 69 in orchards production area, 66 near corns and grains, 68 near vineyards and 36 houses in an urban area (at least 2000 meters from agricultural fields). During the main period of pesticides applications, we used a polypropylene dust trap (30 days) and isopropanol floor wipes to collect recent (7 days) and older dust (at least 6 month). Farmer and pesticides applicators were excluded from the study. Questionnaires were used to assess household characteristics and related domestic pesticide use. We conducted multi-residue laboratory analyses for 413 pesticides and 102 organic compounds in each sample. Results: 126 pesticides were detected at least one time in houses, and at least 1 in 97% of homes. Of 30 predominant compounds, 10 were non-authorized and 5 non-agricultural pesticides. Of the remaining, 9 were authorized for domestic purpose. Highest detection of agricultural-exclusive pesticides (47%) was in the homes near vineyards. Older dust samples are still under analysis. Conclusion: Our results confirmed previous studies in US assessing the household pesticides contamination from surrounding fields. However, our findings indicate non-agricultural use contributes substantially to the total contamination observed in our study homes.