National short-term dietary exposure assessment of a selected group of pesticides in Argentina.

An evaluation of acute dietary exposure to pesticide residues, applying deterministic and stochastic methods, was performed for a selected group of pesticides in two representative age groups from Argentina. Thus, 28 active ingredients (a.i.) and 75 food items were evaluated for the group of 2-5-year-old children, while 9 a.i. and 59 food items were considered for the 10-49-year-old women group. A deterministic assessment was conducting following the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) procedure but using the national maximum residue limits (MRLs) as pesticide residue concentration data, while in the stochastic approach, a theoretical distribution modeled with the available information was used. Food consumption data were obtained from the 2004-2005 comprehensive national nutrition and health survey. The risk was estimated by comparing the short-term dietary exposure with the acute reference dose (ARfD) values for each pesticide-food combination evaluated. In the deterministic assessment, 173 (39.1%) and 40 (31.3%) combinations exceeded the ARfD thresholds for the 2-5-year-old children and 10-49-year-old women groups, respectively. This conservative study generated relevant information as a first stage of acute dietary risk assessment in Argentina.

Comprehensive estimate of the theoretical maximum daily intake of pesticide residues for chronic dietary risk assessment in Argentina.

A chronic dietary risk assessment for pesticide residues was conducted for four age groups of the Argentinian population following the procedure recommended by the WHO. The National Theoretical Maximum Daily Intake (NTMDI) for 308 pesticides was calculated for the first time, using the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) from several Argentinean regulations and food consumption data from a comprehensive National Nutrition and Health Survey. The risk was estimated by comparing the TMDI with the Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) identified by various sources. Furthermore, for each of the compounds with a TMDI >65% of the ADI, a probabilistic analysis was conducted to quantify the probability of exceeding the ADI. In this study 27, 22, 10, and 6 active ingredients (a.i.) were estimated to exceed the 100% of the ADI for the different population groups: 6-23 month-old children, 2-5 year-old children, pregnant women, and 10-49 year-old women, respectively. Some of these ADI-exceeding compounds (carbofuran, diazinon, dichlorvos, dimethoate, oxydemeton-methyl and methyl bromide) were found in all four of these groups. Milk, apples, potatoes, and tomatoes were the foods that contributed most to the intake of these pesticides. The study is of primary importance for the improvement of risk assessment, regulations, and monitoring activities.