Dietary risk assessment of pesticides from vegetables and drinking water in gardening areas in Burkina Faso

Vegetables and water samples have been collected around the lake of Loumbila in Burkina Faso. Pesticides resi- dues in food commodities were analyzed using a modified QuEChERS extraction method prior analysis on GC-MS and UPLC-MS/MS of 31 pesticides. Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) were exceeded in 36% of the samples for seven pesticides: acetamiprid, carbofuran, chlorpyrifos, lambda-cyhalothrin, dieldrin, imidacloprid and profeno- fos. Exceedance of MRLs suggests a risk for the consumers and limits the opportunities of exportation. In order to define estimated daily intake, dietary surveys were conducted on 126 gardeners using a 24 hours recall method. Single pesticide and cumulative exposure risks were assessed for children and adults. Risk was identified for: chlorpyrifos and lambda-cyhalothrin in acute and chronic exposure scenarios. Hazardous chronic exposure to the endocrine disruptor and probable carcinogen dieldrin was also detected. In the studied population, cumula- tive dietary exposure presented a risk (acute and chronic) for children and adults in respectively N 17% and 4% of the cases when considering the worst case scenarios. Processing factor largely influenced the risk of occurrence suggesting that simple washing of vegetables with water considerably reduced the risk of hazardous exposure.