Toxicological priority index framework for prioritizing pesticide products into human exposure and health risk assessments

Abstract

Pesticide exposure assessment in humans involves selecting a set of representative products, performing a detailed examination of all the label permitted uses, and developing relevant exposure scenarios. Due to the potentially large number of pesticide application methods and use sites involved, this process is time-consuming and often requires professional, but subjective, judgment to triage the information. In this proof-of-concept study, an objective method was developed to systematically rank pesticide products for human exposure assessment based on a set of pre-determined criteria. Information employed in this study was obtained from an open access database for 66 cyfluthrin or β-cyfluthrin containing products. Exposure characterization of these pesticide products is based on five normalized product profile indices designed to capture the exposure potential of products, within known exposure settings, through activities exhibited by different population subgroups. Based on the five normalized indices, Toxicity Priority Index (ToxPi) software was used to visually rank the exposure potential of the cyfluthrin/β-cyfluthrin containing products. The ToxPi-based toxicity predictions were assessed using Pesticide Illness Surveillance Program database. The utility of the methodology was discussed in terms of ranking exposure potential of new pesticide products, assisting with future exposure mitigations and applications to pesticides with a common mode-of-action.