Research on Exposure of Residents to Pesticides in the Netherlands OBO Fower Bulbs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Research on exposure of residents to pesticides in the Netherlands OBO fower bulbs Onderzoek Bestrijdingsmiddelen en Omwonenden (Onderzoek Bestrijdingsmiddelen en Omwonenden) Research on exposure of residents to pesticides in the Netherlands OBO fower bulbs Prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. Vermeulen, principal investgator Authors: CLM Advies en Onderzoek Utrecht University Ir. Y.M. Gooijer Ir. D.M. Figueiredo Drs. G.W. Hofijser Dr. A. Huss Ir. L.C.C. Lageschaar Dr. E.J.M. Krop Prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. Vermeulen Radboudumc Drs. A. Oerlemans Wageningen University and Research Dr. ir. P.T.J. Scheepers Dr. ir. F. van den Berg Dr. ir. H.J. Holterman Schutelaar & Partners Dr. ir. C.J.M. Jacobs Ir. C.M. Kivits Ir. R. Kruijne Dr. J.G.J. Mol TNO Dr. ir. M. Wenneker Dr. J. Duyzer Ir. J.C. van de Zande Drs. M.G. Gerritsen-Ebben Personal contributon Prof. dr. P.J.J. Sauer Contents Summary 5 Glossary 7 Chapter 1 Introduction and study design 13 Chapter 2 Methodological sub-studies 27 Chapter 3 Design and methods of the residents’ feld study 43 Chapter 4 Results from the residents feld study 71 Chapter 5 Studies on spray drift and volatilization 139 Chapter 6 Modelling - Integrative analysis of the exposure routes 195 Chapter 7 OBO fower bulbs: discussion and conclusions 233 References 247 Appendices 253 4 Summary Residents have raised concerns regarding possible health efects of applicatons of pestcides in the vicinity of homes. The Health Council of the Netherlands concluded in 2014 that there were sufcient reasons to initate an exposure assessment study among residents living close to agricultural land. The “Onderzoek Bestrijdingsmiddelen en Omwonenden” (OBO) study was initated to clarify the extent to which agricultural use of pestcides in the vicinity of homes contributes to exposure of residents to pestcides. This report describes the results of the exposure assessment study of residents living nearby agricultural land cultvated with fower bulbs (OBO fower bulbs). It should be noted that human exposure is the focus and that health efects were not investgated in this study. The research questons were: i) What are concentratons of pestcides in the environment of residents living near agricultural land with the cultvaton of fower bulbs compared to residents living further away? ii) What is the personal exposure to pestcides of residents living near agricultural land with the cultvaton of fower bulbs compared to residents living further away? iii) What are the exposure sources and routes contributng to personal and environmental exposure to pestcides in areas with the cultvaton of fower bulbs? To answer the research questons, an exposure assessment strategy was developed that included environmental sampling, biomonitoring, and the collecton of contextual informaton. Homes within 250 m of selected agricultural felds with cultvaton of fower bulbs and residents living in these homes were included. Growers and their families, living in the selected area, were also eligible for partcipaton in the study but were treated separately in the statstcal analyses. Environmental samples collected from homes were analyzed for a large number of pestcides used in bulb growing and other cultures and personal samples from the residents were analyzed for fve selected pestcides. Results were compared to the results from samples collected from control locatons located at least 500 m away from any agricultural felds. This yielded a vast amount of data that was analyzed carefully using various methods including statstcal and deterministc models to answer the research questons. Existng deterministc exposure models for pestcides, representng diferent exposure routes, were coupled and verifed using measurement results from OBO experimental studies on spray drif and volatlizaton and the feld study. This provided insights into the relatve importance of the diferent exposure routes for residental pestcide exposures. 5 1. Higher concentratons of several pestcides were found in environmental samples collected from inside and outside the homes of people (residents) living close to bulb felds compared to concentratons in homes further away from the felds (controls). 2. These higher concentratons of pestcides were observed in the homes of people living close to bulb felds, both in the use and non-use period. 3. Biomarkers of two out of the fve analyzed pestcides were found in more than half of the urine samples from persons, including (young) children, in both residents and controls. This was observed inside as well as outside periods of pestcide use. Relatonships between the concentratons of these two pestcides in urine and distance to sprayed felds or periods of pestcide use were not consistently observed. However, concentratons found in urine correlated with the concentratons of pestcides inside and outside the homes. 4. Concentratons of pestcides inside and outside the homes of growers were generally higher than those found for residents living near agricultural land. 5. Calculatons showed that volatlizaton of pestcides from the feld afer spraying and pestcides in house dust are likely the most important routes for exposure to pestcides of residents living close to bulb felds in our study. Because wind during spraying was not directed towards the homes of residents, drif was not observed in the feld study. From experimental studies within OBO fower bulbs we conclude that drif can reach higher alttudes and larger distances than thought before. 6. The research has generated tools for a tme-resolved predictve model to estmate exposure of residents of bulb felds and other crops with downward spraying, via both air and house dust, for all pestcides, locatons and moments. However, important knowledge and informaton gaps stll remain precluding estmates on a natonal scale. Some pestcides were found in urine samples among partcipants as well as controls, including (young) children. At the same tme correlatons were found between environmental and urinary concentratons of these pestcides. These outcomes need to be explored in relaton to possible health implicatons. Such an evaluaton should take into account more factors infuencing pestcide concentratons, including diferent pestcides used, varying distances to agricultural felds, diferent soil types, varying weather conditons and diferent susceptble subgroups (e.g. unborn or young children and individuals with co-morbidites). 6 Glossary 2,4,6-TCP 2,4,6-trichlorophenoxyacetc acid, biomarker for prochloraz in human urine 4-HSA 4-hydroxychlorpropham-O-sulphonic acid, biomarker for chlorpropham in human urine 5-HBC methyl 5-hydroxy-2-benzimidazole carbamate (or hydroxycarbendazim), biomarker for carbendazim in human urine Additonal feld Field in the OBO study that is situated within 250 m of a locaton home ADI Acceptable daily intake, a measure of the amount of a specifc substance in food or drinking water that can be ingested (orally) on a daily basis over a lifetme without an appreciable health risk (WHO, 1987) AOEL Acceptable Operator Exposure Level. It is a health based limit- value that represents the internal (absorbed) dose available for systemic distributon from any route of absorpton (Heer, 2007) Aerosol Suspension of fne partcles or liquid droplets in air ARfD Acute Reference Dose ASE Accelerated Solvent Extracton BAG Basisregistrates adressen en gebouwen: building registraton Biokinetcs The process of absorpton, distributon, metabolism and excreton Biomarker of exposure Parent substance or metabolite in a biological medium (i.e. urine) that refects exposure integrated over tme and diferent uptake routes and sources. BMI Body Mass Index BREAM Bystander and Resident Exposure Assessment Model BROWSE Bystanders, Residents, Operators and Workers Exposure models for plant protecton products BRP Basisregistrate Personen CaCl2 Calcium chloride CLM Centrum Voor Landbouw En Milieu Control homes Homes in the residents’ feld study of controls, situated in rural areas, further than 500 m away from any agricultural feld Controls Partcipants of the residents’ feld study, living in a control home 7 Conversion factor Factor to calculate back from the biomarker concentraton or amount in urine to the original administered dose Ctgb Dutch Board for the Authorisaton of Plant Protecton Products and Biocides (College voor de toelatng van gewas- beschermingsmiddelen en biociden) DDM Dust from doormat Deterministc model Mathematcal model in which all parameters can have one unique value only and in which one parameter set results in one unique output. DRN Drif Reducing Nozzle DRT Drif Reducing Technique EFSA European Food Safety Authority EU-MRL Maximum Residue Level of a pestcide in food in the European Union (Level that should not be exceeded when using pestcides according to good agricultural practce. This is not necessarily a toxicological related maximum level). Excreton rate The amount of metabolite which is excreted in urine per unit of tme (e.g. nmol/h). External exposure Exposure of a resident to external sources, such as pestcides concentraton in air and dust, before these enter the body Farm homes Homes in the residents’ feld study with at least one resident reportng to work in agriculture GC-MS/MS Gas Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry Growers’ family Partcipants of the residents’ feld study, living in a farm home GSM Global System for Mobile communicatons h Hours Half-life Time required to decrease the concentraton of the metabolite in the urine by half IDEFICS IMAG (Insttute of Environmental and Agricultural Engineering, Wageningen, the