article · Heliyon
An assessment of organochlorine pesticide residues in amaranths and fluted pumpkin grown in South-western Nigeria reveals substantial chemical contamination and associated health hazards. Gas chromatography with electron capture detection showed that between 25% and 100% of the detected pesticide residues exceeded established maximum residue limits. Highest mean concentrations occurred for endrin aldehyde and endosulfan sulfate in both crops. Health risk models assessing dietary exposure indicate non-carcinogenic risks for both children and adults from compounds including aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and endrin aldehyde, with heptachlor posing additional non-carcinogenic risk to children. Furthermore, carcinogenic risk evaluations indicate potential cancer threats from aldrin and dieldrin for adults, while children face potential carcinogenic exposure from aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, and heptachlor epoxide. These findings demonstrate significant dietary exposure risks to local consumers of these leafy vegetables.
Organochlorine pesticides are persistent environmental toxins with global restrictions due to severe health concerns. Because leafy vegetables form a regular part of everyday diets, residues above safe legal limits threaten public health. Quantifying these contaminants provides vital baseline data on exposure levels for vulnerable populations, particularly children, highlighting the necessity for active food safety monitoring and regulation enforcement across agricultural supply chains.
The abstract provides analytical baseline data on chemical contamination rather than developing a proprietary product or service. Consequently, these findings serve food safety regulators, public health agencies, and commercial testing laboratories seeking to establish monitoring protocols. Any technological translation, such as rapid field test kits, produce screening services, or soil remediation interventions, remains early-stage research, as the abstract does not indicate an explicit commercialisation pathway.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are persistent pesticides whose usage have been banned or restricted worldwide and the presence of its residues in vegetables could affect its nutritional quality as well cause adverse health effects. This study quantified the OCP residue levels in commonly grown and consumed vegetables and assessed the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks from the consumption of the contaminated vegetables. The OCP residues levels in the extract from the vegetables were determined using a Gas Chromatograph coupled with Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD). Health risk estimates were analysed using Estimated Average Daily Intake (EADI), Hazard Index (HI), and Hazard Ratio (HR) for children (16.7 kg) and adults (60 kg) weight categories. The residue analysis indicated that amaranths had the highest mean concentration of endrin aldehyde (2.987 ± 0.391 mg kg -1 ) and endosulfan sulfate (0.661 ± 0.280 mg kg -1 ), while in fluted pumpkin, the highest mean concentrations were endrin aldehyde (3.491 ± 0.376 mg kg -1 ) and endosulfan sulfate (2.775 ± 0.644 mg kg -1 ). The percentage of the detected OCP residues above Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) ranged from 25% to 100% for both vegetables. Non-carcinogenic health risk estimates for the children weight category showed that aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, and heptachlor detected in both vegetables had HI > 1. While for adults, only aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and endrin aldehyde revealed non-carcinogenic effect in both vegetables. Human risk estimations for the carcinogenic health effect for the two vegetables showed that aldrin and dieldrin could pose carcinogenic health risks to adult, while aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide could pose carcinogenic health risks to children. The results revealed both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks for the consumers of the contaminated vegetables from the selected locations in South-western Nigeria.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01895
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
