Collection Occupational hygiene, Issue 29, 1993 year

Biomonitoring of organochlorine pesticides in Ukraine

V. F. Demchenko

doi

Institute of Occupational Medicine, Kiev

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The implementation of the global environmental monitoring program (UNEP, WHO) implies mandatory biomonitoring (BM) of xenobiotics, primarily persistent organochlorine compounds [4]. Contamination of the environment with toxic chemicals, detected during its monitoring, indicates the potential for their impact (exposure) on humans. The presence of the original substance, products of its transformation directly in biological fluids and human tissues, established as a result of BM, is evidence of the fact of exposure to pollutants. The quality and efficiency of the ecological and hygienic assessment of the environment and working conditions is determined by the completeness of the interaction between the monitoring of the industrial and the environment, BM effects and BM exposure of xenobiotics. Sometimes it is the exposure BM that is of decisive importance for the detection of pre-pathological conditions in the examined persons caused by occupational hazards, and the choice of the appropriate treatment tactics [2].

Persistent organic chlorinated pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBPs), and others are among the global environmental pollutants (air, water, soil, food). The most widely studied content in the human body of OCPs - DDT and HCH, their isomers and metabolites, hexachlorobenzene (HCB). Generalization and analysis of literature data and our own research have revealed some general patterns of their accumulation in the human body.

Research should be carried out at the population level, as it is not only people who are professionally exposed to pesticides that are exposed to OCPs. Due to the widespread prevalence, persistence, diversity of migration and transformation routes, lipophilicity, ability to bioconcentrate along the trophic chain, the population experiences a load of OCPs at the level of actual pollution of the atmospheric air, drinking water, food [1, 3].

It is known that organochlorine compounds can enter the human body via the translactar route. In this regard, the monitoring of human breast milk is considered to be of primary importance for BM. Based on the content of OCPs in breast milk, it is possible to predict the levels of their average daily intake by newborns, given that the child receives 130 g of breast milk per 1 kg of body weight per day [4]. A hygienic assessment of the results obtained in Kiev showed that the average daily intake of DDT and its derivatives, y-HCH in some cases is 3-5 times higher than the permissible daily intake (respectively 0.0025 mg / kg and 0.005 mg / kg of the child's body weight) - SanPiN 42-123-4580-87), and HCB even dozens of times (the WHO recommended permissible level of 0.001 mg / kg body weight) [5]. It should be noted that the concentrations of OCPs in breast milk are higher in 30-39-year-old women in childbirth than in 20-29-year-olds.

In recent years, WHO pays more and more attention to BM PCBP, dioxins. In our country, such studies are practically not conducted. Therefore, it seems extremely important to organize BM of the listed organochlorine compounds, primarily in breast milk, taking into account the ecological characteristics of the regions (contamination with radionuclides, heavy metals).

References

  1. Kaloyanova F. P. Toksikologicheskaya otsenka i gigiyenicheskiy kontrol' pestitsidov // Profilakticheskaya toksikologiya. — M.: Tsentr mezhdunarodnykh proyektov GKNT, 1984. — T. 2, ch. 1. — S. 134—163.
  2. Ranneye vyyavleniye priznakov narusheniya zdorov'ya, vyzvannogo professional'nymi vrednostyami. — Zheneva: VOZ, 1977. — 100 s.
  3. Toksikologicheskaya otsenka galogenirovannykh aromaticheskikh soyedineniy v svyazi s zagryazneniyem podzemnykh vod. — Kopengagen: VOZ, 1981. — 66 s.
  4. Assessment of human exposure to selected organochlogine compounds through biological monitoring. — Uppsala: Swedish National Food Administration, 1983.— 134 p.
  5. Mac Cuang /?. D. The Occurence of Insecticides in the blood of Staff of a Locust Control Organization//Bull. Env. Contam. and Toxical. — 1976.— V. 15, N 2. — P. 162—170.