Human exposure and risk assessment to airborne pesticides in a rural French community

Abstract Outdoor air samples collected during the pesticide agricultural application period (spring and summer) from a rural community in the Centre Region (France) were analyzed to investigate temporal variation of atmospheric pesticide levels (2006–2013) and human inhalation exposure in adults, children and infants. The most frequently detected pesticides were herbicides (trifluralin, pendimethalin), fungicides (chlorothalonil) and insecticides (lindane and α-endosulfan). The three currently-used pesticides most frequently detected presented concentrations ranging from 0.18 to 1128.38 ng m − 3 ; 0.13 to 117.32 ng m − 3 and 0.16 to 25.80 ng m − 3 for chlorothalonil, pendimethalin and trifl…