Pesticide Residues Analysis in Human Milk Samples in Isparta Region (Turkey)

Breast milk monitoring studies are extremely important, because they concern for possible adverse health effects for suckling infants and constitute a biomarker of environmental exposure to pesticides residues. The present study reports 15 pesticides levels in human breast milk in Isparta, Turkey. Human milk samples were collected in Isparta between October 2009 and May 2010. Human milk samples were taken from 101 healthy women. Different extraction solvent mixtures were compared for the analysis of pesticides in human milk. GC/ECD and GC/NPD were employed for the identification of different pesticides. The samples were obtained by family health center in Isparta. Liquid-liquid extraction procedure chloroform/n-hexane (2:1, v/v) and dichloromethane/n-hexane (2:1, v/v) were used. The detection limits were between 0.04-0.027 ng/g lipid for the studied pesticides, recoveries ranged from 89.26 to 101.10 % in samples and the relative standard deviations were in the range 1 to 10 %. Endosulfan was measured only in 3 samples and mean concentration of endosulfan was 0.190 ng/g lipid. Dichlorvos was measured only in 5 samples and mean concentration of dichlorvos was 0.188 ng/g lipid.