As part of the national biomonitoring program, Santé publique France conducted the Esteban study in 2014–2016 to quantify exposure to a number of environmental pollutants among the French population aged 6 to 74. Quantifying the risk levels associated with these exposures allows public health authorities to prioritize actions for the most exposed populations. The article published in the journal Int J Hyg Environ Health presents the results of the general population’s exposure to widely used pesticides.

3 questions for Clémence Fillol, Environmental and Occupational Health Division, Santé publique France

Population exposure to certain pesticides is one aspect of the Esteban study. Which families of pesticides were measured? Why were these chosen, and what are the exposure levels among adults and children?

In the Esteban study, five families of pesticides were measured in participants’ urine or serum: organochlorines, organophosphates, pyrethroids, carbamates, and herbicides. These families were selected by experts using a Delphi consensus method, which identified prioritization criteria and then ranked the biomarkers to be analyzed in the national biomonitoring program. The study thus provided the first-ever national profile of exposure levels to 70 pesticide biomarkers in children. It also described certain levels of exposure to pesticide biomarkers for the first time in adults. Esteban further highlighted a possible impact of existing regulations on adult exposure to organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides in 2014–2016, as exposure levels had decreased significantly since the previous ENNS study in 2006–2007. Concentrations of pyrethroid metabolites, however, remained stable (except for urinary concentrations of one metabolite: Br2CA).

Your study identified certain factors contributing to pesticide exposure that can be addressed to reduce exposure and thereby lower risks. Can you provide a few examples?

The use of pest control products on pets, for example, was associated with higher exposure to pyrethroids in adults and children, as was tobacco use in adults. Our results also showed that regular consumption of organic agricultural products was associated with lower concentrations of pesticide exposure, particularly for pyrethroid metabolites and certain organochlorine compounds.

What has been the contribution of the European HBM4EU project since the publication of the Esteban results? How does Santé publique France’s participation in the European PARC project align with this objective of characterizing exposures for action?

Since the publication of the Esteban results, certain health guidance values for human biomonitoring have been developed as part of the European HBM4EU Initiative. A derived HBM-GV (human biomonitoring guidance value) for the general population (HBM-GVGenPop) represents the concentration of a chemical substance or its metabolites below which, based on current knowledge, there is no expected risk of adverse health effects. Thus, comparison with the HBM-GVs indicates that urinary concentrations of the metabolites of the studied pyrethroids were mostly below current HBM-GVsGenPop, with the exception of 3-PBA (a pesticide metabolite) in 7 adults aged 44 to 67 years. Among children aged 6 to 17, 1% and 10% of the Esteban sample, respectively, had 3-PBA levels above the current HBM-GVsGenPop values of 22 μg/L and 6.4 μg/L in urine according to the selected scenarios, while 99.6% of the children were exposed.

The approach highlighted in this article, complementing the results already available, thus underscores the value, in terms of risk assessment, of generalizing the production of such health guideline values to quantify the risk levels associated with exposure and thereby help prioritize public health actions for the most exposed populations. The new European Partnership for Risk Assessment of Chemicals (PARC) aims, in particular, to further harmonize human biomonitoring practices in Europe and to continue developing new health guideline values.