A therapeutic regimen for purging dieldrin from adulterated individuals
SummaryIn four feedlots 1013 steers had become contaminated by being fed over 50% of their diet as cull seed potatoes containing 0.1 to 0.2 ppm dieldrin (dry weight basis), developing residues of up to 0.76 ppm (rendered fat). These residues were in excess of federal guidelines (0.30 ppm, rendered fat), but considered non-pathological and without physiological effect. Application of a therapeutic regimen, consisting of an initial injection of testosterone propionate and vitamins A, D and E and of daily oral doses of phenobarbital (first 20 days only) and activated charcoal in a finishing ration, resulted in marked reductions in dieldrin residues within 30 days. The rate of dieldrin loss was increased six-fold and the residual half-life reduced from a reported 150 to 250 days to about 25 to 80 days. The effectiveness of individual components or combinations was not evaluated, but the rate of charcoal feeding appeared most important.
Dieldrin: studies in a poisoned child.
Clinical symptoms and gross autopsy findings in two cases of dieldrin poisoning are presented. Studies in one child suggest that redistribution of the insecticide into fat is slow and that the more rapid redistribution of dieldrin is from brain to muscle, which may account for termination of seizures. Concentrations fall to population levels with a first-order decay rate which had, in this case, a half-life of 50 days. Electroencephalograms, helpful for diagnosis, may reflect the brain load of poison. Evidence for liver toxicity was found both acutely and more than one year after poisoning.
Chlorinated insecticides and related materials in human urine.
Abstract A new gas chromatographic method for the analysis of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides and their neutral metabolites in human urine is presented. Good reproducibility and recovery are obtained. In the majority of trials, recovery was 80% or better. The method was applied to urine specimens from men and women of the general population and has resulted in the detection of ten isomers or metabolites of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. The excretion of these materials in the urine of individuals with no occupational exposure to chlorinated insecticides has not been detected previously. It is undoubtedly the extremely high sensitivity of the electron-capture detector to chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides and the good reproducibility of measurements made in this way that make it possible to establish the excretion levels demonstrated in this work. That the materials reported were accurately identified was demonstrated by similarity of results with three chromatographic columns and, in the case of dieldrin, by greater excretion in men with occupational exposure to the compound. Occupational exposure to DDT does lead to an increase in excretion of DDA, but not to significant increase of excretion of neutral materials related to DDT. Whether measurement of urinary excretion can be used effectively to establish the degree of exposure to chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides for any given individual remains to be seen. Clearly, additional investigation is warranted.