Residues of DDT and its metabolite in blood of exposed factory workers and their correlation with ill health symptoms.

ABSTRACT

The residue levels of DDE, op1--DDT and pp1--DDT of the factory workers exposed to DDT formulations having temporary clinical symptoms and of those without any such symptoms did not show any significant difference in their values suggestive of no direct correlation between insecticide residues and ill health symptoms. The average residue values of DDT (mg/litre) and its metabolite DDE (mg/litre) in exposed workers were 0.8634 +/- 0.1529 and 0.2106 +/- 0.0458 respectively while in unexposed control subjects 0.0826 +/- 0.0238 and 0.0278 +/- 0.0040. Total DDT residue in blood in exposed workers is more than 10 times higher than the same in unexposed control.