[Levels of exposure to organochlorine pesticides in open-air dump dwellers].

OBJECTIVE To estimate the degree of internal exposure to organochlorine pesticides (persistent organic pollutants, POP) among inhabitants of an open-air dump. METHODS This was an observational study with simultaneous measurement and control, in which the criterion for subjects was that they dwelled in an area contaminated by POP and the effect of such contamination was the concentration of such substances into the blood. The study population consisted of 238 people living on an open-air dump in Pil es, in the municipality of Cubatão, SP, Brazil, and the control population was formed by 258 people, also resident in that municipality, in the Cota 200 district. The following pesticides were analysed: hexachlorobenzene (HCB), p-p'DDT, p-p'DDE, p-p'DDD, o-p'DDT, a HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane); b HCH; g HCH; aldrin; dieldrin; endrin; heptachlor; heptachlor-epoxy and mirex. RESULTS The average blood level of HCB in Pil es was 4.66 g/l, which was 155 times higher than the average for Cota 200 (0.03 g/l). In Pil es the average blood concentration of total DDT was 3.71 g/l, which was twice the level found in Cota 200 (1.85 g/l). Total HCH presented blood concentrations that were six times greater in Pil es (0.84 g/l versus 0.13 g/l). CONCLUSIONS A positive association was shown between dwelling in Pil es and the presence of POP in the blood, with much higher risks than in localities without the presence of these contaminants.