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Pesticide residues on children’s hands, home indoor surfaces, and drinking water among conventional and organic farmers in Thailand

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Abstract

This study measured pesticide levels on children’s hands, home indoor surfaces, and drinking water among Thai conventional and organic farm families in three provinces. Farm families in Nakhonsawan and Phitsanulok provinces were the conventional farmers and those in Yasothon province were the organic farmers. Samples were collected in the dry and wet seasons over 2 years (2017 and 2018). All samples were analyzed for organophosphates (OPs), carbamate, pyrethroid, triazines, glyphosate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). On children’s hands, the highest concentrations for the 2 palmar surfaces were found for cypermethrin (7.46 μg) and fipronil (2.88 μg). On home surfaces of approximately 1000 cm2, the highest concentrations were found for cypermethrin (27.94 μg) and fipronil 49.76 μg)/1000 cm2. For the conventional farmers, the most common pesticides on children’s hand wipes were cypermethrin and fipronil, which are used as in-home pesticides as well as agricultural pesticides. However, home surface wipes showed other pesticides associated with agriculture were presented in the home during the seasons when they were used, suggesting spray drift or carry home sources for these pesticides. During the wet season, pesticides were found in the drinking water of all provinces. Most common were fenitrothion, profenofos, fenthion, atrazine, and AMPA. Profenofos was found at levels above the health guidelines. During 2017, there was extensive flooding in Thailand which may have contributed to the drinking water contamination, even though most farmers report using tap water or bottled drinking water. Future work is needed to assess the risk of all sources of pesticide exposures in children and to repeat the drinking water pesticide contamination analysis.

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The original datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the NIH Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, and the NIH under Award Number U01 TW010091 and U2RTW010088.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Toxic Substance Research Group, Agricultural Production Sciences Research and Development Division, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Bangkok, Thailand

    Pakasinee Klaimala, Paphatsara Khunlert & Prakit Chuntib

  2. Mahidol University, Nakhonsawan Campus, Nakhonsawan, Thailand

    Ritthirong Pundee

  3. Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Nichcha Kallayanatham, Noppanun Nankongnab & Pornpimol Kongtip

  4. Center of Excellence On Environmental Health and Toxicology, EHT, Bangkok, Thailand

    Noppanun Nankongnab & Pornpimol Kongtip

  5. Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, USA

    Susan Woskie

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  1. Pakasinee Klaimala
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  2. Paphatsara Khunlert
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Contributions

Pakasinee Klaimala (acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation of samples), Paphatsara Khunlert (collection and analysis of samples), Prakit Chuntib (collection and analysis of samples), Ritthirong Pundee (collection of data, interpretation of data), Nichcha Kallayanatham (management of the project, data collection), Noppanun Nankongnab (design of the study, interpretation of data), Pornpimol Kongtip (conceptual and design, writing the first draft), Susan Woskie (conceptual and design, revising the final draft). All authors helped revising the draft and approved the final version before submitted to the journal.

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Correspondence to Pakasinee Klaimala.

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Approval was obtained from the ethics review committee for human research faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University (MUPH 2015–146). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Klaimala, P., Khunlert, P., Chuntib, P. et al. Pesticide residues on children’s hands, home indoor surfaces, and drinking water among conventional and organic farmers in Thailand. Environ Monit Assess 194, 427 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10051-6

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