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Probabilistic health risk assessment of chlorpyrifos exposure among applicators on rice farms in Ghana

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Abstract

Human health risk assessments of exposures to non-carcinogenic occupational and environmental toxicants have mostly been undertaken using the Hazard Quotient (HQ) approach, which largely ignores variabilities in both exposures and associated adverse health outcomes, unlike probabilistic approaches. Chlorpyrifos is a neurotoxic insecticide that is commonly applied by farmers in Ghana with limited research on associated health risks among applicators. The objective of this study was to assess health risks associated with chlorpyrifos exposure among applicators on rice farms in Ghana, using advanced probabilistic approaches that incorporate variability in both exposure doses and adverse response doses obtained from human epidemiological studies. Urine samples obtained from the applicators were analyzed for 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP)from which Absorbed Daily Dose (ADD) and Lifetime Average Daily Dose (LADD) levels of chlorpyrifos were estimated. The scientific literature was searched to identify human epidemiological data from studies that have reported chlorpyrifos adverse effects and their corresponding exposure levels. Equivalent ADD and LADD of chlorpyrifos were estimated from the human epidemiological data to obtain chlorpyrifos Toxicant Sensitivity Distributions (TSDs). Using the applicators’ chlorpyrifos dose distribution and TSDs, adverse health risks among the applicators were characterized using the probabilistic approaches, Overall Risk Probability (ORP) and Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The probabilities of chlorpyrifos adverse health effects occurring under the chronic exposure scenarios ranged from 1 to 8%, while those for acute exposure scenarios ranged from 31 to 34%. This study indicates that while the risks of chronic adverse health effects from chlorpyrifos exposure among the applicators were low, acute health risks were high.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the rice farmers of Asutsuare and Akuse (Ghana), as well as the staff of Kpong Irrigation Scheme (Asutsuare, Ghana), particularly Albert F. Swatson, Raphael Edifor, Samuel Kwakye, and Moses Kodjotse, for their tremendous support during the field work. Also, the authors would like to thank Mrs. Benedicta Adewuti, Martin Amega-Yevu, and Ishmael Sumaila Narteh of Osukoku Health Centre (Asutsuare, Ghana) for their assistance during the fieldwork. Moreover, the in-kind support offered by the Management and Staff of the Organic Chemistry Department of Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Service (Brisbane, Australia) during the laboratory analytical work, is much appreciated.

Funding

This study was supported with funding from Griffith University (Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, Griffith University Postgraduate Research

Scholarship), Griffith School of Environment and Science, Griffith School of Engineering, Organic Chemistry Department of Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services and Dr. Ross Sadler.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG13, Legon, Accra, Ghana

    Albert Atabila & Julius N. Fobil

  2. Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, 170 Kessel Road, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Albert Atabila, Dung T. Phung, Ross Sadler & Cordia Chu

  3. Department of Environmental Science, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Jonathan N. Hogarh

  4. School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, 170 Kessel Road, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Des Connell

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  1. Albert Atabila
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Contributions

AA, DTP, JNH, RS, DC, and CC contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by AA with supervision from DTP, JNH, RS, DC, and CC. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AA and all authors provided significant comments on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Albert Atabila.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance for this study was sought from Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee (GHS-ERC: 10/07/15) and Griffith University Human Ethics Committee (ENV/24/15/HREC).

Consent for publication

The research participants gave approval for publication of their de-identified data.

Availability of data and materials

The sources of data used in this study have been indicated in the “The levels of chlorpyrifos absorbed dose found with the applicators” and “Chlorpyrifos Toxicant Sensitivity Distributions (TSDs)” sections above.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Atabila, A., Phung, D.T., Hogarh, J.N. et al. Probabilistic health risk assessment of chlorpyrifos exposure among applicators on rice farms in Ghana. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 67555–67564 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15354-8

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