title: Cumulative dietary exposure of the population of Denmark to pesticides.
abstract: We used the Hazard Index (HI) method to carry out a cumulative risk assessment after chronic dietary exposure to all monitored pesticides in fruit, vegetables and cereals for various consumer groups in Denmark. Residue data for all the pesticides were obtained from the Danish monitoring programme during the period 2004-2011. Food consumption data were obtained from DANSDA (the DAnish National Survey of Diet and physical Activity) for the period 2005-2008. The calculations were made using three different models to cope with residues below the limit of reporting (LOR). We concluded that a model that included processing factors and set non-detects to ½ LOR, but limited the correction (Model 3), gave the most realistic exposure estimate. With Model 3 the HI was calculated to be 0.44 for children and 0.18 for adults, indicating that there is no risk of adverse health effects following chronic cumulative exposure to the pesticides found in fruit, vegetables and cereals on the Danish market. The HI was below 1 even for consumers who eat more than 550 g of fruit and vegetables per day, corresponding to 1/3 of the population. Choosing Danish-produced commodities whenever possible could reduce the HI by a factor of 2.
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark. Electronic address: bhje@food.dtu.dk.
authors.forename: Bodil Hamborg
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Tue
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mette Erecius
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Poulsen
authors.affiliation: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens Hinge
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003718:Denmark; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D005638:Fruit / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D010573:Pesticide Residues / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014675:Vegetables / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010573:Pesticide Residues; D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Cumulative chronic exposure assessment; Handling of left-censored data; Hazard Index method; Pesticides residues