Toxicokinetic Study of Lambda-cyhalothrin Biomarkers of Exposure

Exposure to pyrethroid pesticides is a growing concern in the workplace especially since they are also present in the diet of the general population. It is important to monitor human exposure to these contaminants. Exposure to pyrethroids may occur by multiple routes of exposure (oral, inhalation and dermal), such that it is difficult to assess absorbed doses from external exposure assessments. Biological monitoring, which consists of measuring urinary metabolites, is now recognized by the scientific community as a preferred approach to assess exposure to this type of compound. These metabolites are biotransformation products produced in the human body from the exposure compounds. However, interpretation of these biological monitoring data requires a proper knowledge of the kinetic behavior and thus the fate of the substance of interest in the human body in order to link levels of biomarkers in individuals to actual absorbed doses. Human kinetic data are still poorly documented in the case of pyrethroids. The study in volunteers exposed to pyrethroids in controlled conditions will allow acquiring new urinary and blood profiles to refine and address uncertainties in the toxicokinetics of lambda-cyhalothrin following oral and dermal exposure. Those data will serve to build a toxicokinetic model to predict absorbed doses in workers from urinary metabolite measurements and therefore better assess health risks.