URINARY-EXCRETION OF TETRAHYDROPHTALIMIDE IN FRUIT GROWERS WITH DERMAL EXPOSURE TO CAPTAN

The relation between dermal and respiratory exposure and uptake into t he body of captan, measured as 24 hr cumulative tetrahydrophtalimide ( THPI) dose, was studied among 14 male fruit growers applying pesticide s in orchards in the Netherlands. No contribution of respiratory expos ure was observed on THPI in the urine. Dermal exposure, measured with skin pads, showed a dear relation with THPI in urine when exposure was estimated from exposure on skin pads of ankles and neck. No relation was found for total dermal exposure, calculated from measured exposure on skin pads of representative skin areas according to models describ ed in the literature. Determinants of exposure such as use of a cabin on the tractor, use of gloves during mixing and loading, and use of ru bber boots also explained THPI in urine very well. This finding corrob orated the findings on measured dermal exposure. Results indicate that more attention should be paid to skin areas which are suspected to be most permeable for a chemical under study. It was concluded that derm al exposure data can be linked better to biological monitoring based o n empirical findings as gathered in a pilot study on exposure of speci fic body areas than on estimations of total skin dose. (C) 1995 Wiley- Liss, Inc.