Lancaster researchers worked alongside colleagues at F Quaid-i-Azam University to study pesticide levels in Lahore
Residents and workers in a major Pakistan city are exposed to harmful levels of pesticides, new research reveals. Scientists from Pakistan's F Quaid-i-Azam University and Lancaster University have evaluated the organophosphate pesticide concentration in dust from farms and also from pesticide manufacturing plants in the megacity of Lahore. Researchers tested 50 dust samples as well as blood and urine samples from more than 500 men aged between 20 and 55 - including farmers, factory workers, shopkeepers, rural and urban residents, and compared them with a control group. The results show dust in and around Lahore contains pesticide pollution that is a high health risk to all groups tested. The most prominent pesticides were chlorpyrifos and diazinon, which has been outlawed for residential use in countries such as the US. It can affect humans through inhalation, ingestion of through absorption through the skin. Urine samples, which were taken from people living in both rural and urban areas of Lahore where contaminated dust was found, were found to contain high levels of biomarkers associated with chlorpyrifos and diazinon contamination.
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