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A COMMUNITY-BASED CHILDREN'S PESTICIDE EXPOSURE MEASUREMENT STUDY IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
Citation:
Tulve, N S., R C. Fortmann, D A. Whitaker, H. Brown, A. Hilliard, AND L. P. Naeher. A COMMUNITY-BASED CHILDREN'S PESTICIDE EXPOSURE MEASUREMENT STUDY IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA. Presented at Science Forum 2003, Washington, DC, May 5-7, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
1. To identify those pesticides, pathways, and activities that represent the highest potential exposures to children;
2. To determine the factors that influence pesticide exposures to children;
3. To develop methods for measuring multimedia exposures to children, including methods that account for important activities that take place in home, school, and day care settings;
4. To generate data on multimedia pesticide concentrations, pesticide biomarkers, and exposure factors that can be used as inputs to aggregate exposure models for children.
Description:
Children's exposures to pesticides and chemicals in consumer products may be different, and in some cases, higher than exposures for adults. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting research to gain a better understanding of children's exposures and the factors that affect exposures to chemicals in homes, child care centers, other indoor environments, and outdoor environments where children may spend their time. Recently, the EPA had the opportunity to collaborate with the Duval County, Florida Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a measurement study to characterize young children's potential exposures to pesticides in residential environments in Jacksonville, FL.
The Duval County Health Department (DCHD) initiated this community-based study and solicited participation from the CDC for measurements of pesticide metabolites in urine and the EPA for assistance in characterizing pesticide residues in the homes of study participants. Working with CDC and EPA, the DCHD project evolved into a three-tiered study that examined potential exposures of young children (4 to 6 years old) to a large number of organophosphate pesticides (primarily used outdoors) and pyrethroid pesticides (currently used extensively for indoor pest control). The three-tiered study design consisted of the following:
Tier 1: Recruitment of 200 children from County health clinics, completion of a questionnaire, and collection of a urine sample from each participating child;
Tier 2: Collection of environmental screening samples at the homes of approximately 25% of the children who participated in tier 1;
Tier 3: A detailed aggregate exposure assessment for nine of the homes sampled in tier 2.
DCHD staff collected samples in tiers 1 and 2. EPA staff performed the aggregate exposure assessment at the nine homes in tier 3.
Results of analyses from urine samples will be used to evaluate the children's exposure to the target pesticides in this community and for comparison to data from other measurement studies (e.g. NHANES). Data from the DCHD tier 2 measurements will be used to evaluate the screening method as a tool to identify homes with the potential for elevated exposures or pesticide poisoning. The aggregate exposure assessment data, in combination with data from other EPA studies, will be used reduce reliance on default parameters in exposure and risk assessments for pesticides. The project represents a highly successful partnership by a local government agency and two Federal Agencies to address a number of research objectives and to improve our understanding of children's exposures to pesticides in the home.