Pyrethroids metabolites in human urine samples

Pyrethroids are a class of extensively used insecticides for human and animal health protection. Concern has been growing about the possible human health effects from environmental exposure, e.g. chronic exposure to low levels, to pyrethroids. Several metabolites, specific or common to different pyrethroids, can be used for the assessment of pyrethroids exposure. 3-Phenoxybenzoic acid is a major urinary biomarker for numerous pyrethroids used nowadays and has been extensively analyzed and reported. Biomonitoring pyrethroids in human samples is undoubtedly necessary in order to support the clarification of potential correlations between exposure and adverse health effects. The present chapter is an overview of pyrethroids’ metabolitesanalyses in human urine samples, including analytical methods and reported values. Data from several studies from 1990 until March 2019 were collected. Studies from different countries and continents that assess exposure in diverse populations are addressed and different applied analytical methodologies are also discussed. Additionally, human biomonitoring was performed based on highly sensitive analytical methods and reports values for several metabolites, showing the relevance of human biomonitoring of pyrethroids. Some metabolites were below the human biomonitoring assessment values of 2 μg/L for the general population. However, we must consider that exceeds in the upper exposure percentiles of the general population, e.g. children.