Abstract |
An apparent etiologic relationship between occupational exposure to pesticides and renal tubular malfunction was discovered incidentally during the development of a practical surveillance technique for persons occupationally exposed to parathion, an organophosphate type of insecticide. For this surveillance method, grab samples of urine were obtained and analyzed for paranitrophenol, the major urinary metabolite of parathion. Urinary levels of paranitrophenol, expressed in parts per million (ppm), were then independently correlated with observed spray technique and with measurements of red cell cholinesterase. An average urinary level of approximately 4.5 ppm was found to be the level above which red cell cholinesterase became increasingly depressed and which was associated with a 70 per cent absenteeism rate due to pesticide-induced illness. (Portions of this document are not fully legible) |