Human exposure to endocrine-disrupting organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides in locally produced and imported honey in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The practice of exposing honeybees to pesticides by bee-keepers or via agricultural crops, is one of the ways in which honey becomes contaminated with pesticides. Though honey has many health advantages, however, human exposure to pesticides via consumption of honey has generated public health concerns due to their endocrine-disruptive abilities. Thus, this study evaluated human exposure to endocrine-disrupting pesticides in honey from Nigeria to establish the safety of honey consumed in Nigeria. Honey were analyzed for pesticides using a gas chromatograph combined with an electron capture detector. The concentrations of ∑20 OCPs and ∑14 OPPs in the honey ranged from 0.45-1045 ng/g and 1.13-632 ng/g respectively. The values of both individual and cumulative non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks for humans were <1 and 1 × 10⁻⁴ respectively suggesting that there are no potential health risks via the honey consumption. The source analysis showed that pesticides in these honey originated from historical and recent/fresh use.

KEYWORDS:

• OCPs
• OPPs
• honey
• daily intake
• cumulative risk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2024.2373169

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by Prince of Songkla University and Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation under the Reinventing University Project [Grant Number REV65003].