Search

Context There is a lack of data on pesticide exposure levels during spraying with a knapsack, while it could have important implications for their users' health. Methods We assessed levels and determinants of exposure in 24 male private landscapers/gardeners and municipal workers in France in 2011. Actual dermal exposure to glyphosate was assessed with cotton undergarments and gloves, and a cotton coverall changed between mixing and spraying to assess the contribution of each phase and body area to overall contamination. A field monitor observed the whole workshift and filled in a standardized observation grid. Results The median actual contamination was 5,256 µg for the body, and 4,620 µg for hands. Spraying was more exposing than mixing/loading for all body parts except hands, which contributed to nearly 90% of body exposure during mixing/loading, and 30% during spraying, followed by back (14%). In the most exposed quartile, levels were close to some observations in agriculture. Conclusion Our study provides new data on pesticide exposure levels of knapsack sprayer users; it should lead to a reinforced prevention, in order to make exposures as low as possible and lessen the risk of chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pesticide exposures are suspected to be implicated in the excess of central nervous system (CNS) tumours observed in farmers, but evidence concerning individual pesticides remains limited. Carbamate insecticides, used on a wide range of crops, have shown evidence of carcinogenicity in some experimental studies. In the cohort AGRICAN (AGRIculture & CANcer), we assessed the associations between potential exposures to carbamate insecticides and the incidence of CNS tumours, overall and by histological subtype.Methods: AGRICAN enrolled 181 842 participants involved in agriculture. Incident CNS tumours were identified by linkage with cancer registries from enrolment (2005-07) until 2013. Carbamate exposure was assessed by combining information on lifetime periods of pesticide use on crop or livestock and the French crop-exposure matrix PESTIMAT, individually for each of the 19 carbamate insecticides registered in France since 1950. Associations were estimated using proportional hazards models with age as the underlying time scale, adjusting for gender, educational level and smoking.Results: During a 6.9-year average follow-up, 381 incident cases of CNS tumours occurred, including 164 gliomas and 134 meningiomas. Analyses showed increased risks of CNS tumours with overall exposure to carbamate insecticides and linear trends with duration of use of each carbamate. Considering tumour subtypes, hazard ratios for gliomas ranged from 1.18 for thiofanox to 4.60 for formetanate, and for meningiomas from 1.51 for carbaryl to 3.67 for thiofanox.Conclusions: Findings reinforce carcinogenicity evidence for already suspected active ingredients and draw attention to additional active ingredients, notably used on fruit trees, vineyards, potatoes and beets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented discussing the prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance among farmers in France.

Thiophene derivatives, a class of compounds widely used in products such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals or dyestuffs, represent chemicals of concern. Indeed, the thiophene ring is often considered as a structural moiety that may be involved in toxic effects in humans. We primarily focus on the genotoxic/mutagenic and carcinogenic potentials of the methyl 3-amino-4-methylthiophene-2-carboxylate (1), a precursor of the articaine local anesthetic (4) which falls within the scope of the European REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals) legislation. To discern some structure-toxicity relationships, we also studied two related compounds, namely the 3-amino 4-methylthiophene (2) and the 2-acetyl 4-chlorothiophene (3). Techniques employed to assess mutagenic and DNA-damaging effects involved the Salmonella mutagenicity assay (or Ames test) and the single-cell gel electrophoresis assay (or Comet assay). In the range of tested doses, none of these derivatives led to a positive response in the Ames tests and DNA damage was only observed in the Comet assay after high concentration exposure of 2. The study of their carcinogenic potential using the in vitro SHE (Syrian Hamster Embryo) cell transformation assay (CTA) highlighted the activity of compound 2. A combination of experimental data with in silico predictions of the reactivity of thiophene derivatives towards cytochrome P450 (CYP450), enabled us to hypothesize possible pathways leading to these toxicological profiles., (Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Increasing incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been associated repeatedly with farming occupation and particular attention focused on the role of pesticide exposure to potentially explain part of this trend. A genetic hallmark of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the presence of recurrent chromosomal translocations involving the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene. Of these, the t(14;18), which deregulates BCL2 expression and inhibits apoptosis, is the most frequent in follicular lymphoma and has been detected consistently in peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy individuals. As BCL2-IGH translocation represents an early step of the malignant process, we evaluated the occurrence and molecular characteristics of BCL2-IGH translocation in 56 individuals occupationally exposed to pesticides in open field farming They were selected from a representative cohort of farmers with a well-defined assessment of pesticide exposure taking into account potential confounding factors, smoking, sunlight, and age. Our results suggest that occupational exposure to pesticides would increase BCL2-IGH prevalence together with the frequency of BCL2-IGH-bearing cells especially during the high pesticide use period. Distribution of BCL2 or IGH breakpoint positions seemed to be independent of pesticide exposure and was similar to those found in other healthy populations or lymphoma patients. Finally, these results provide additional evidence that BCL2-IGH translocation measurements could be a measure of acquired genetic instability in relation to genotoxic exposure in a gene directly relevant in term of lymphomagenesis.