Pesticides Residues in Egyptian Diabetic Children: A Preliminary Study

Pesticides exposure has been linked with many childhood diseases including endocrine and immune disorders. The aim of the present study is to monitor the levels of pesticides residues in a group of Type 1 Diabetic Children (TID) in our locality and to explore if there is correlation between presence of pesticides and risk of occurrence of TID. One hundred and ten Egyptian children; their ages ranged from 1.2 to 10 years were studied. The control group comprised 35 completely healthy children, while the study group included 75 children (newly diagnosed as TID). Children were chosen from those attending Mansoura University Children Hospital. Blood samples were collected from both groups for detection of pesticides residues. The results reveal that lindane is the most common organochlorine pesticide detected followed by o.p-DDD and p.p-DDE as DDT metabolites; while the most prevalent organophosphate compound is malathion. It could be concluded that Egyptian children have measurable levels of several pesticides residues and there is increased risk of developing T1D in children exposed to some types of pesticides. Additionally, biomonitoring of these toxicants provide clinical toxicologists and physicians with reference values to be compared with other populations and could be correlated in the future studies with diseases claimed to be due to pesticide exposure especially in children.