Dietary exposure assessment of organochlorine pesticides in two commonly grown leafy vegetables in South-western Nigeria

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are persistent pesticides whose usage have been banned or restricted worldwide and the presence of its residues in vegetables could affect its nutritional quality as well cause adverse health effects. This study quantified the OCP residue levels in commonly grown and consumed vegetables and assessed the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks from the consumption of the contaminated vegetables. The OCP residues levels in the extract from the vegetables were determined using a Gas Chromatograph coupled with Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD). Health risk estimates were analysed using Estimated Average Daily Intake (EADI), Hazard Index (HI), and Hazard Ratio (HR) for children (16.7 kg) and adults (60 kg) weight categories. The residue analysis indicated that amaranths had the highest mean concentration of endrin aldehyde (2.987 +/- 0.391 mg kg(-1)) and endosulfan sulfate (0.661 +/- 0.280 mg kg(-1)), while in fluted pumpkin, the highest mean concentrations were endrin aldehyde (3.491 +/- 0.376 mg kg(-1)) and endosulfan sulfate (2.775 +/- 0.644 mg kg(-1)). The percentage of the detected OCP residues above Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) ranged from 25% to 100% for both vegetables. Non-carcinogenic health risk estimates for the children weight category showed that aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, and heptachlor detected in both vegetables had HI > 1. While for adults, only aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and endrin aldehyde revealed non-carcinogenic effect in both vegetables. Human risk estimations for the carcinogenic health effect for the two vegetables showed that aldrin and dieldrin could pose carcinogenic health risks to adult, while aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide could pose carcinogenic health risks to children. The results revealed both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks for the consumers of the contaminated vegetables from the selected locations in South-western Nigeria.