Presence of pesticides in breast milk and infants’ formulae in Himachal Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

This study documents the levels of pesticide residues in milk samples of mothers from Himachal Pradesh, India, and time trend comparison of pesticide load based on various studies conducted around the world. The regional difference in xenobiotic levels of breast milk varied with demographic characteristics of mothers and altitudinal variations. The single or multiple pesticides contamination of p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDT and chlorpyrifos was revealed in 27.45% mothers’ milk samples. Among these p,p′-DDE was the major contaminant found in 26.79% samples followed by p,p′-DDT (1.31%) and chlorpyrifos (0.65%). However, residues of other 26 pesticides comprising organochlorines, organophosphorus and synthetic pyrethroids included in this study were below detectable limit (BDL). The determination of a low DDT/DDE ratio (0.050) indicated past exposure of mothers to DDT from the environment. The pesticide residues level in samples drawn from 14 branded infant formulae was BDL. The calculated infants’ daily intake (DI) of DDT was 0.0015 mg kg⁻¹ body weight per day compared with a decade-old study (0.021 mg kg⁻¹ body weight per day) suggesting a sharp decline in the residue levels of these pesticides in the Himalayan region. The trend comparison with past studies conducted around the world indicate a decline in the levels of organochlorine pesticide residues in mothers’ milk and further drop of DI in infants. However, such comparisons confer very limited utilisation of data generated on pesticide load in mothers’ milk and simultaneous infants’ DI due to lack of proper research protocol.

KEYWORDS:

• Mothers’ milk
• infant formula
• pesticide residues
• daily infant intake
• neonate risk
• Himachal Pradesh

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of HP, for providing permission to visit various hospitals and to their staff who managed sample collections. Thanks also due to the Dean, COH, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP, India, for providing the necessary laboratory facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the DST, Government of India, in the form of ‘INSPIRE FELLOWSHIP’ to Neeta Devi Sharma.