Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
11th International Congress of the Turkish Society of Toxicology, Antalya, Türkiye, 2 - 05 Kasım 2022, ss.62
Children's environmental health is influenced not only by traditional environmental hazards such as
tobacco smoke, air pollution, pesticides but also new emerging threats such as endocrine disruptor
chemicals and climate change. Pesticides, which are among these threats, are products developed for
the benefit of humanity and are one of the biggest environmental risk factors in the world which leads to
increased mortality and a wide variety of diseases in both wildlife and humans today. Organophosphate
pesticides (OPs) and pyrethroids (PYRs), which are important groups of pesticides, are widely used in
Turkey as well as all over the world. The aim of this study was to determine the OP and PYR exposure
levels in urine samples obtained from preschool Turkish children (3-6 years old) living in two cities, one
with high agricultural production (Mersin, n:54) and the other with high consumption (Ankara, n:132).
Three non-specific metabolites of PYR insecticides and four non-specific and one specific metabolite of
OPs were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The non-specific PYR
metabolite 3-Phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) (87.1%; n=162) and the specific OP metabolite 3,5,6-Trichloro2-pyridinol (TCPY) (60.2%; n=112) were the most frequently detected metabolites in all samples. When
two provinces in the study were considered, the mean concentrations of 3-PBA and TCPY were 0.3±0.8
and 0.11±0.43 ng/g creatinine respectively. Although due to the large individual variation no significant
differences were found between 3-PBA (p=0.9969) and TCPY (p=0.6558) urine levels determined in the
two provinces, significant exposure differences were determined both between provinces and within the
province in terms of age and gender. This study is an important contribution to the limited information
about childhood exposure to OPs, PYRs and also a risk assessment, the estimated daily intake (EDI) and
hazard quotient (HQ) were determined for urine concentrations.