Assessment of health risk and burden of disease associated with dietary exposure to pesticide residues through foodstuffs in Iran

The health risk and burden of disease associated with dietary exposure to pesticide residues in foodstuffs in Iran were assessed. The pesticide residue levels in foodstuffs in the country were determined through systematic review and meta-analysis. The non-carcinogenic risk, carcinogenic risk, and attributable burden of disease were estimated in terms of hazard quotient (HQ), incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), and disability-adjusted life year (DALY), respectively. The meta-analysis showed that 58% of pesticide-food pairs lacked Codex maximum residue levels (MRLs), 34% had pesticide levels below these limits, and 8% exceeded them. Based on the average HQs, two foodstuffs (onion and tangerine) and two pesticides (haloxyfop-R-methyl and cyhalothrin) exhibited unacceptable non-cancer risk (>1.0). The average ILCR value of lindane was assessed to be at the unacceptable level (1.4 x 10(-4)). The total annual disease burden values attributable to pesticide residues in foodstuffs were assessed to be 242 for death cases, 0.29 for death rate (per 100,000 people), 13,792 for DALYs, and 16.1 for DALY rate. The three food items with the highest DALY rates from pesticide residues were cucumber (5.9), fish (3.9), and date (2.1). The health risk and disease burden of pesticide residues in foodstuffs were considered to be relatively high.