B. Gassner et al., TOPICAL APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC PYRETHROIDS TO CATTLE AS A SOURCE OFPERSISTENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION, Journal of environmental science and health. Part B. Pesticides, food contaminants, and agricultural wastes, 32(5), 1997, pp. 729-739
Following the application of permethrin or cyhalothrin to cattle for t
he control of ectoparasites, the occurrence and persistence of these c
hemicals was assessed on the animals and in their environment. The rel
ease of permethrin from ear tags containing 1 g of the drug on cattle
was followed for 65 days and lead to concentrations of 5 to 35 mu g of
permethrin per gram of hair on the shoulders. On the flanks of the an
imals, the corresponding values were 10 times lower. Across the 1.5 ac
re pasture, high concentrations of permethrin were measured at various
locations and long after treatment: 6 mu g/g on bark of a birch after
one week, 5 mu g/g on a pole of the fence after two weeks, 1 mu g/g i
n grass from a resting site of the animal after six weeks, and 0.5 mu
g/g in bark of a pine tree after three month and two weeks after the a
nimals had left the pasture. In similar assays, cyhalothrin applied to
milk cows as a pour-on preparation was monitored. One week following
treatment with 0.2 g/animal, hair cut from the shoulders contained 5 m
u g/g of the insecticide, which disappeared with a half-life of 12 day
s. Dust collected two weeks after the pour-on treatment from the milk
barn where the cows were milked twice daily contained 47 mu g/g of cyh
alothrin, which disappeared with a half-life of 44 days. These results
show that synthetic pyrethroids used on farm animals can be the sourc
e of widespread and persistent contamination.