Risk of dietary intake of organochlorine pesticides among the childbearing-age women: A multiple follow-up study in North China.

Abstract Exposure to organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) can cause adverse health effects in the female population. We investigated the dietary OCP intake of childbearing-age women living in large agricultural areas of Northern China, as well as their associated health risks. Ten childbearing-age women were recruited during 2015–2016. Their weekly dietary intake diaries and food samples were collected over the course of five visits. The OCP residues of 322 food samples from seven categories (i.e., cereal, vegetable, fruit, fish, meat, egg, and milk) were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The average concentrations of the total hexachlorocyclohexanes (ΣHCH), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes and their metabolites (ΣDDX), endosulfans (ΣES), and dieldrin and endrin (ΣDrin) in all food categories were, overall, much lower than the maximum residue limits. Relative high mean residues of ΣDrin and ΣES were found in fruits (ΣDrin: 0.687 ng g−1 wet weight (w.w.), ΣES: 2.24 ng g−1 w.w.) and vegetables (ΣDrin: 0.690 ng g−1 w.w., ΣES: 2.11 ng g−1 w.w.). The estimated daily dietary intake (EDI) of these compounds was calculated, with mean levels of 10.6 (ΣES) > 4.37 (ΣDrin) > 1.51 (ΣHCH) > 0.850 (ΣDDX) ng kg−1 day−1. Women during the heating period (from January to March) tended to ingest more ΣHCH, ΣDDX, ΣDrin, and ΣES. Overall, women had no obvious non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks due to intake of OCPs, but 83.9% of them has potential carcinogenic risk, with estimated life carcinogenic risk (LCR) exceeding 10−6. Furthermore, women had a higher potential carcinogenic risk during the heating period (mean LCR: 1.33 × 10−5) than during the non-heating period (mean LCR: 8.50 × 10−6). ΣDrin was the dominant OCP responsible for health risks, followed by ΣHCH. We concluded that women in North China still have some dietary OCP intake, especially during the heating period.