Ethion Exposure and Biological Monitoring in Vegetable Farmers
Pornpimol Kongtip PhD*, Sirinnapa Changfuang MS*, Witaya Yoosook PhD*, Suttinun Chantanakul MD*, Dusit Sujirarat MS**
Affiliation : * Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. ** Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To modify the method of analysis of urinary diethyl phosphate (DEP) in order to determine the relationship between
atmospheric ethion concentration and urinary DEP concentration.
Materials and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting atmospheric ethion in the breathing zone of 28
farmers following the NIOSH 5600 method. Urine samples were also collected to analyze urinary DEP concentrations by a
modified method using a Gas Chromatography-Flame Photometric Detector (FPD).
Results : The average atmospheric ethion concentration in the breathing zone of farmers was 0.036 + 0.018 mg/m3. The
average urinary DEP in pre-shift and post-shift was 0.030 + 0.06 and 0.851 + 1.80 mg/g of creatinine respectively. The
average DEP during work shifts was 0.53 + 0.27, and ranged from 0.12 to 1.16 mg/g of creatinine. A high correlation
coefficient (r = 0.645) was found between atmospheric ethion concentrations and urinary DEP concentrations at p < 0.001.
Conclusion : The modified method provided a reliable result and the urinary DEP during work shifts was found to be a
reliable biomarker of ethion exposure.
Keywords : Ethion, Diethyl phosphate, Organophosphate metabolites
