The Assessment of Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure among School Children in Four Regions of Thailand: Analysis of Dialkyl Phosphate Metabolites in Students’ Urine and Organophosphate Pesticide Residues in Vegetables for School Lunch

Abstract

In Thailand, pesticides containing organophosphates (OP) are frequently applied to crops to suppress insects. School children can be exposed to OPs on a daily basis, from food consumption to breathing and touching pesticides drifted near classrooms. Living in an agricultural area can also be one of the causes. As a result, it is important to monitor OPs residues in the food chain and biomarkers of exposure. The Gas Chromatography–Flame Photometric Detector method was employed to examine the relationship between OPs residue and DAPs (Diakly phosphate) in four targeted locations in Thailand, as well as to examine the residues of OPs in vegetable samples and DAPs in 395 school children’s urine samples. Vegetables were found to contain at least one OP, with chlorpyrifos being the most prevalent. The OPs detected frequencies for Sakon Nakhon, Chiang Mai, Phang Nga, and Pathum Thani are 96.1%, 94%, 91.7%, and 83.3%, respectively. The overall centration level of OPs showed 0.3261 mg/kg, 0.0636 mg/kg, 0.0023 mg/kg, 0.0150 mg/kg, 0.2003 mg/kg, 0.0295 mg/kg, and 0.0034 mg/kg for diazinon, dimethoate, pirimiphos-methyl, chlorpyrifos, profenofos, ethion, and triazophos, respectively. Nearly 98% of school children were detected with at least one DAP. The overall level of dimethyl phosphate metabolites (5.258 µmole/mole creatinine) in urine samples is higher than diethyl phosphate metabolites (2.884 µmole/mole creatinine), especially in the case of Pathum Thani. Our findings show a consistent relationship between OPs in vegetables from wet markets and DAPs in urine samples of school children in various parts of Thailand.