Herbicides are generally the most extensively used of the pesticides applied to agricultural crops. However, the literature contains little evidence useful in assessing the potential sources of the general population's exposure to herbicides, including by residential proximity to crops.
The objective of this study was to take advantage of data from the PELAGIE mother–child cohort to identify the main determinants of the body burden of exposure to the chloroacetanilide and triazine herbicides commonly used on corn crops in Brittany, France, before 2006. Urine samples from a randomly selected subcohort of women in the first trimester of pregnancy (n = 579) were assayed for herbicide metabolites. The residential exposure resulting from proximity to corn crops was assessed with satellite-image-based scores combined with meteorological data. Data on diet, drinking tap water (from the public water supply), occupations, and household herbicide use were collected by questionnaires.
Herbicides were quantified in 5.3% to 39.7% of urine samples. Alachlor and acetochlor were found most frequently in the urine of women living in rural areas. The presence of dealkylated triazine metabolites in urine samples was positively associated with residential proximity to corn crops (OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.05–1.80). Urinary metabolites of both atrazine and dealkylated triazine were correlated with tap water consumption (OR = 2.94, 1.09–7.90, and OR = 1.82, 1.10–3.03, respectively); hydroxylated triazine metabolites were correlated with fish intake (OR = 1.48, 1.09–1.99).
This study reinforces previous results that suggest that environmental contamination resulting from agricultural activities may contribute to the general population's exposure to herbicides.