A National Study of Residential Pesticides Measured from Floor Wipes

American Healthy Homes Survey: A National Study of Residential Pesticides Measured from Floor Wipes
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es8030243

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency conducted a survey measuring lead, allergens, and insecticides in a randomly selected nationally representative sample of residential homes. Multistage sampling with clustering was used to select the 1131 homes of which a subset of 500 randomly selected homes included the collection of hard surface floor wipes. Samples were collected by trained field technicians between June 2005 and March 2006 using isopropanol wetted wipes.

Samples were analyzed for a suite of 24 compounds which included insecticides in the organochlorine, organophosphate, pyrethroid and phenylpyrazole classes, and the insecticide synergist piperonyl butoxide.

The most commonly detected were permethrin (89%), chlorpyrifos (78%), chlordane (64%), piperonyl butoxide (52%), cypermethrin (46%), and fipronil (40%). Mean and geometric mean (GM) concentrations varied widely among compounds, but were highest for trans-permethrin (mean 2.22 ng/cm2 and GM 0.14 ng/cm2) and cypermethrin (mean 2.9 ng/cm2 and GM 0.03 ng/cm2).

Results show that most floors in occupied homes in the U.S. have measurable levels of insecticides that may serve as sources of exposure to occupants.

Daniel M. Stout II*†, Karen D. Bradham†, Peter P. Egeghy†, Paul A. Jones†, Carry W. Croghan†, Peter A. Ashley‡, Eugene Pinzer‡, Warren Friedman‡, Marielle C. Brinkman§, Marcia G. Nishioka§ and David C. Cox
National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20410, Battelle Memorial Institute, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201, Quantech, 2020 N 14th St, Suite 41,0 Arlington, Virginia 22201
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
Publication Date (Web): May 6, 2009
Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
* Corresponding author phone: (919) 541-5767; fax: (919) 541-0905; e-mail: stout.dan@epa.gov.