Exposure assessment of 170 pesticide ingredients and derivative metabolites in people from the Central Andes of Peru

Jorge Honles (1, 2) , Claire Clisson (3) , Claudia Monge (4, 2, 1) , Pedro Vásquez-Ocmín (1, 2) , Juan Pablo Cerapio (5, 2) , Sysay Palamy (6) , Sandro Casavilca-Zambrano (4, 2) , Javier Herrera (7) , Pascal Pineau (8) , Eric Deharo (9) , Vincent Peynet (3) , Stéphane Bertani (1, 2)

1 PHARMA-DEV - Pharmacochimie et Biologie pour le Développement
2 LOAM - Laboratoire Mixte International d'Oncologie Anthropologique Moléculaire = International Joint Laboratory of Molecular Anthropological Oncology
3 Institut de Recherche et d'Expertise Scientifique [Europarc, Strasbourg]
4 INEN - Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas [Lima, Pérou]
5 CRCT - Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse
6 UHS - University of Health Sciences [Vientiane, Laos]
7 LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine
8 Organisation Nucléaire et Oncogenèse / Nuclear Organization and Oncogenesis
9 MIVEGEC - Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle

The Central Andes of Peru are a region of great concern regarding pesticide risk to the health of local communities. Therefore, we conducted an observational study to assess the level of pesticide contamination among Andean people. Analytical chemistry methods were used to measure the concentrations of 170 pesticide-related compounds in hair samples from 50 adult Andean subjects living in rural and urban areas. As part of the study, a questionnaire was administered to the subjects to collect information regarding factors that increase the risk of pesticide exposure. Our results indicate that Andean people are strongly exposed to agrochemicals, being contaminated with a wide array of pesticide-related compounds at high concentration levels. Multivariate analyses and geostatistical modeling identified sociodemographic factors associated with rurality and food origin that increase pesticide exposure risk. The present study represents the first comprehensive investigation of pesticide-related compounds detected in body samples collected from people living in the Central Andes of Peru. Our findings pinpoint an alarming environmental situation that threatens human health in the region and provide a rationale for improving public policies to protect local communities.

Domaines: Santé; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Jorge Honles, Claire Clisson, Claudia Monge, Pedro Vásquez-Ocmín, Juan Pablo Cerapio, et al.. Exposure assessment of 170 pesticide ingredients and derivative metabolites in people from the Central Andes of Peru. Scientific Reports, 2022, 12, pp.13525. ⟨10.1038/s41598-022-17772-1⟩. ⟨hal-03747623⟩