Description:
The "Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study" (MNCPES) evaluated the feasibility of conducting a multipathway exposure monitoring study with a sample of children, and implemented a strategy for collection and integration of survey information (e.g., pesticide usage and activity patterns) with measurements (environmental, exposure, and biomarkers) to assess children's pesticide exposures. The project was based on the NHEXAS (National Human Exposure Assessment Survey) study conducted in the EPA Region V states by the Research Triangle Institute and Environmental Occupational Health Sciences Institute. (Additional subjects were included under an EPA STAR Grant to the University of Minnesota to evaluate urban-to-rural differences in exposures.) The population was limited to households with children, ages 3-12 years, within the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul (urban) or in Rice and Goodhue Counties (non-urban) in Minnesota. Households were first screened for pesticide usage to identify potentially exposed children, based on reported use of pesticides and the presence of products with target compounds identified through a product inventory. Follow-up monitoring was completed for 102 children, and included measurements of personal exposures (in air, hand rinse, duplicate diet), environmental concentrations (in residential indoor/outdoor air, water, contactable surfaces, and soil), activity patterns (questionnaire, diary, and video-taping approaches), and exposure biomarkers (metabolites in urine). The primary target pesticides (chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion, atrazine) were measured in most sample media and were used to establish quality assurance objectives for the measurement and analyses methods.
Keywords:
CHILDREN'S EXPOSURE, ORGANOPHOSPHATE PESTICIDES, PESTICIDES, EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT, EXPOSURE SURVEY,
Project Information:
Progress
:Survey and field operations were completed in 1997; laboratory analyses continued through 1999. Data QA reviews for the completed analyses, and construction of the statistical analysis databases, continued through 1999. The telephone and household screening questionnaire data were provided by MDH; SAS files were created and have been used to make comparisons of questionnaire responses between classification groups identified with each form. Analysis of pesticide metabolites in urine were completed by CDC in 1998. The metabolite data were combined to provide a single data set for analyses, and were linked to the screening questionnaires for some preliminary comparisons (unweighted analyses). Sampling weights for the completed analyses were calculated in 1999. A draft version of the study databases, limited to 52 NHEXAS study subjects, was provided to EPA for evaluation (as part of the NHEXAS database effort, Task 3908). Procedures for developing summary statistics from the measurements data, including data quality and detection codes, have been developed.
Presentations of the study design and screening approach were made to the ISEA meeting in November, 1997. Comparisons of the screening approaches, using both telephone and household screening questionnaires, with the urine-metabolite data were presented at the ISEE/ISEA meeting in August, 1998. Poster presentations were made to a joint EPA/NIESH workshop on Applying Biomarker Research in August, 1999. These summarized the methodology for estimating absorbed dose from urinary biomarkers, and the application of PK model uncertainty to the design of collection studies. Two manuscripts on this study were published in March, 2000: one describing the study design and methods, and the other providing results from a pesticide product inventory:
- Quackenboss J.J., Pellizzari, E.D., Shubat, P.J., Whitmore, R.W., Adgate, J.L., Thomas, K.W., Freeman, N.C.G., Stroebel, C., Lioy, P.J., Clayton, C.A., and Sexton, K. Design Strategy for Assessing Multi-Pathway Exposure for Children: The Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study (MNCPES). J. Expos. Anal. Environ. Epidem. 2000; 10(2): 145-158.
- Adgate JL, Kukowski A, Stroebel C, Shubat PJ, Morrell S, Quackenboss JJ, Whitmore RW, Sexton K. Pesticide Storage and Use Patterns in Minnesota Households with Children. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 2000; 10(2): 159-167.
A manuscript on "lessons learned" from the study has been developed:
- Adgate JL, Clayton CA, Quackenboss JJ, Thomas KW, Whitmore RW, Pellizzari ED, Lioy PJ, Shubat P, Stroebel C, Freeman NCG, Sexton K. "Measurement of Multi-pollutant and Multi-pathway Exposures in a Probability-Based Sample of Children: Practical Strategies for Effective Field Studies. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. In Press, 2000.
Relevance
:This study will provide information to meet GPRA Goal #3, Safe Food, Subobjective 3.2.4 - By 2005, provide problem-driven research results to support the new FQPA regulatory standard of "reasonable certainty of no harm" for pesticides used on food. It was designed to consider children's exposure to pesticide residues from all sources, including foods, drinking water, and pesticide applications in homes as required by the FQPA. Specifically, this research will contribute to Goal 3 by providing real-world exposure concentration and exposure factor data on children's non-occupational exposure to pesticides that can be used for the exposure assessments required to implement FQPA. These data will reduce the reliance on default human exposure assessment assumptions and provide measurements to develop and evaluate multipathway models of children's exposures to pesticides.
Clients
:EPA, Office of Pesticide Programs, EPA NCEA, EPA Office of Children's Health Protection.
Project IDs:
ID Code
:3902
Project type
:OMIS