Occurrence of biomarkers of pesticide exposure in non-invasive human specimens

• We review the levels of current pesticides in urine, breast milk, hair and meconium.
• There is an ongoing chronic exposure to low levels of the main used insecticides.
• Urine is the more consolidate matrix for biomonitoring of contemporary pesticides.
• Hair is an emerging matrix for biomonitoring of legacy and current pesticides.
• For biomonitoring interpretation more reference and health-based values are required.

Biomonitoring has been used in many types of investigations, including national programmes and epidemiological studies, to explore the occurrence of biomarkers of pesticide exposure in the general population or relevant groups. This review discusses recent studies that measure levels of biomarkers of pesticide exposure in non-invasive human specimens such as urine, breast milk, meconium and hair. Specific and non-specific metabolites of organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides have been widely investigated in urine, where some of the suitable biomarkers present rates of detection higher than 80%, which stand for an ongoing chronic exposure to traces of these chemicals. Hair is a promising emerging matrix, but some issues on its suitability and the biological relevance needs further research. Breast milk was used in research investigations focused mainly on legacy pesticides, which provide useful information about time trends.

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