Acute Human Lethal Toxicity of Agricultural Pesticides: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

In a prospective cohort study of patients presenting with pesticide self-poisoning, Andrew Dawson and colleagues investigate the relative human toxicity of agricultural pesticides and contrast it with WHO toxicity classifications, which are based on toxicity in rats.

Abstract

Background

Agricultural pesticide poisoning is a major public health problem in the developing world, killing at least 250,000–370,000 people each year. Targeted pesticide restrictions in Sri Lanka over the last 20 years have reduced pesticide deaths by 50% without decreasing agricultural output. However, regulatory decisions have thus far not been based on the human toxicity of formulated agricultural pesticides but on the surrogate of rat toxicity using pure unformulated pesticides. We aimed to determine the relative human toxicity of formulated agricultural pesticides to improve the effectiveness of regulatory policy.

Methods and Findings

We examined the case fatality of different agricultural pesticides in a prospective cohort of patients presenting with pesticide self-poisoning to two clinical trial centers from April 2002 to November 2008. Identification of the pesticide ingested was based on history or positive identification of the container. A single pesticide was ingested by 9,302 patients. A specific pesticide was identified in 7,461 patients; 1,841 ingested an unknown pesticide. In a subset of 808 patients, the history of ingestion was confirmed by laboratory analysis in 95% of patients. There was a large variation in case fatality between pesticides—from 0% to 42%. This marked variation in lethality was observed for compounds within the same chemical and/or WHO toxicity classification of pesticides and for those used for similar agricultural indications.

Conclusion

The human data provided toxicity rankings for some pesticides that contrasted strongly with the WHO toxicity classification based on rat toxicity. Basing regulation on human toxicity will make pesticide poisoning less hazardous, preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths globally without compromising agricultural needs. Ongoing monitoring of patterns of use and clinical toxicity for new pesticides is needed to identify highly toxic pesticides in a timely manner.

Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary

Background

Suicide is a preventable global public health problem. About 1 million people die each year from suicide and many more harm themselves but survive. Although many people who commit suicide have a mental illness, stressful events (economic hardship or relationship difficulties, for example) can sometimes make life seem too painful to bear. Suicide attempts are frequently impulsive and use methods that are conveniently accessible. Strategies to reduce suicide rates include better treatment of mental illness and programs that help people at high risk of suicide deal with stress. Suicide rates can also be reduced by limiting access to common suicide methods. The single most important means of suicide worldwide is agricultural pesticide poisoning. Every year, between 250,000 and 370,000 people die from deliberate ingestion of pesticides (chemicals that kill animal pests or unwanted plants). Most of these suicides occur in rural areas of the developing world where high levels of pesticide use in agriculture combined with pesticide storage at home facilitate this particular method of suicide.

Why Was This Study Done?

To help reduce suicides through the ingestion of agricultural pesticides, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommends the withdrawal of the most toxic pesticides—World Health Organization (WHO) class I pesticides—from agricultural use. This strategy has proven successful in Sri Lanka where a ban on class I pesticides in 1995 and on the class II pesticide endosulfan in 1998 has reduced pesticide deaths by 50% over the past 20 years without decreasing agricultural output. Further reductions in suicides from pesticide ingestion could be achieved if regulatory restrictions on the sale and distribution of the most toxic class II pesticides were imposed. But such restrictions must balance agricultural needs against the impact of pesticides on public health. Unfortunately, the current WHO pesticide classification is based on toxicity in rats. Because rats handle pesticides differently from people, there is no guarantee that a pesticide with low toxicity in rodents is safe in people. Here, the researchers try to determine the relative human toxicity of agricultural pesticides in a prospective cohort study (a study in which people who share a characteristic—in this case, deliberate pesticide ingestion—are enrolled and followed to see how they fare).

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

The researchers examined the case fatality (the proportion of patients dying after hospital admission) of different agricultural pesticides among patients who presented with pesticide self-poisoning at two Sri Lankan referral hospitals. Between April 2002 and November 2008, 9,302 people were admitted to the hospitals after swallowing a single pesticide. The researchers identified the pesticide ingested in 7,461 cases by asking the patient what he/she had taken or by identifying the container brought in by the patient or relatives. 10% of the patients died but there was a large variation in case fatality between pesticides. The herbicide paraquat was the most lethal pesticide, killing 42% of patients; several other pesticides killed no one. Compounds in the same chemical class and/or the same WHO toxicity class sometimes had very different toxicities. For example, dimethoate and malathione, both class II organophosphate insecticides, had case fatalities of 20.6% and 1.9%, respectively. Similarly, pesticides used for similar agricultural purposes sometimes had very different case fatalities.

What Do These Findings Mean?

These findings provide a toxicity ranking for pesticides that deviates markedly from the WHO toxicity classification based on rat toxicity. Although the findings are based on a study undertaken at just two Sri Lankan hospitals, they are likely to be generalizable to other hospitals and to other parts of rural Asia. However, because the study only included patients who were admitted to hospital after ingesting pesticides, the actual case fatalities for some pesticides may be somewhat different. Nevertheless, these findings have several important public health implications. For example, they suggest that the decision taken in January 2008 to withdraw paraquat, dimethoate, and fenthion from the Sri Lankan market should reduce deaths from pesticide poisoning in Sri Lanka by a further 33%–65% (equivalent to about 1,000 fewer suicides per year). More generally, they suggest that basing the regulation of pesticides on human toxicity has the potential to prevent hundreds and thousands of intentional and accidental deaths globally without compromising agricultural needs.

Additional Information

Please access these Web sites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000357.

• This study is further discussed in a PLoS Medicine Perspective by Matt Miller and Kavi Bhalla

• The World Health Organization provides information on the global burden of suicide and on suicide prevention (in several languages) and on its classification of pesticides

• The US Environmental Protection Agency provides information about all aspects of pesticides (in English and Spanish)

• Toxtown, an interactive site from the US National Library of Science, provides information on environmental health concerns including exposure to pesticides (in English and Spanish)

• The nonprofit organization Pesticide Action Network UK provides information about all aspects of pesticides

• The US National Pesticide Information Center provides objective, science-based information about pesticides (in several languages)

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to reduce hunger; as part of this effort, it has introduced pesticide policy reforms (in several languages)

• MedlinePlus provides links to further resources about suicide and about pesticides (in English and Spanish)