Pesticide Residues in Man - Pesticides: Evaluation of Environmental Pollution - page 487

60

∑ HCH
∑ DDT

50.4

50

45.3

44.9

43.4

42.5

40 40

40

30

23.4

21.4

20

14.7

9.5

10

7.6

5.6

4.9

0

20-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 > 90

Age (years)

FIGURE 15.10
Mean concentration (μg/L) of organochlorine pesticide residues detected in human serum samples of dif-
ferent age groups from a rural population in Verride, Portugal. ∑HCH includes α-, β-, and γ-isomers. ∑DDT
includes p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, o,p′-DDT, and p,p′-DDT. (Adapted from Cruz, S., Lino, C., and Silveira, M. I. 2003.
Evaluation of organochlorine pesticide residues in human serum from an urban and two rural populations in
Portugal. Sci. Total Environ. 317: 23-35.)

Variation between different countries in the levels of human serum OCP residues is
illustrated in Figure 15.11 , based on the results of the previous investigators (e.g., Krawinkel
et al. 1989; Leoni et al. 1989; Guardino et al. 1996; DeVoto et al. 1998; Stellman et al. 1998;
Waliszewski et al. 1999a; Wicklund Glynn et al. 2000; Dua et al. 2001; Charlier and Plomteux
2002; Hanaoka et al. 2002; Cruz et al. 2003). It appears that India and Sweden occupy high
ranks regarding contamination levels of OCP residues in human serum.
In a recent study, Lino and da Silveira (2006) monitored OCP residues in serum
samples collected from Portuguese students. Concentrations of selected OC pollutants
(α-, β-, and γ-HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, HE, HCB, p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD)
and endosulfan sulfate were measured in the serum samples collected from 160 stu-
dents. Endosulfan sulfate, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDT, and p,p′-DDD were the most frequently
identified residues. Mean total DDT levels were higher than mean total HCH levels
( Figures 15.12 and 15.13). For ∑DDT, the highest levels were found among females
(Figure 15.12) and in urban samples ( Figure 15.13 ). An opposite situation was found in
∑HCH: males presented higher levels than females. The authors mentioned that the
mean concentration of OCP residues, present in the student populations, showed that it
is among the highest levels of contamination, when compared with others from Europe,
Asia, and America.
In 1998, one of the largest determinations of OCPs in a representative sample of a
Spanish population (682 serum samples from the Canary Islands) was made in the con-
text of the Canary Islands Nutrition Survey (ENCA) (Zumbado et al. 2005). The objective
was to point out the differences in pesticide contamination between islands, and along
with this, to analyze if a connection could be established with gender, age, or habitat of
the subjects. Concentrations of selected persistent OC pollutants (p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-
DDE, o,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, and o,p′-DDD) were measured in the collected serum samples.
Almost all of the samples (99.3%) presented detectable levels of some DDT derivatives,