Premium
Risk profile and health vulnerability of female workers who pick cotton by organanochlorine pesticides from southern Punjab, Pakistan
Author(s) -
Yasmeen Humaira,
Qadir Abdul,
Mumtaz Mehvish,
Eqani Syed Ali Musstjab Akber Shah,
Syed Jabbir Hussain,
Mahmood Adeel,
Jamil Nadia,
Nazar Farva,
Ali Habib,
Ahmad Muhammad Shafiq,
Tanveer Zafar Iqbal,
Zhang Gan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.3633
Subject(s) - pesticide , vulnerability (computing) , environmental health , toxicology , geography , biology , medicine , ecology , computer security , computer science
Abstract The present study was conducted to highlight the existing level of organochlorine‐pesticides (OCPs) from human milk ( n = 45) and blood serum ( n = 40) of female workers who pick cotton in Khanewal District, southern Punjab, Pakistan. Source apportionment, congener‐specific analysis, and risk surveillance of OCPs are reported from human milk and blood samples. Levels of OCPs in milk and blood serum samples ranged from 15.7 ppb to 538.3 ppb and from 16.4 ppb to 747.1 ppb, respectively, and were lower than previously published reports from other regions of the globe. Congener‐specific analysis revealed that DDTs were predominant, followed by hexachlorocyclohexane, chlordane, and hexachlorobenzene. Calculated results for source apportionment analysis suggested that contamination load was a new input of DDTs as well as the historic use of lindane in the study area. Levels of OCPs in milk and blood serum were significantly ( p < 0.05) correlated with age, time period of picking cotton, and number of children. Health risk revealed that female workers had risk of cancer among 1 per million; however, noncarcinogenic risks were not considerable. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1193–1201. © 2016 SETAC