Toxicological evaluation of the immune function of pesticide workers, a European wide assessment

From 2002–2005, an investigation was conducted in four countries of the European Union (EU) (Bulgaria, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands), comprising five field studies with the aim to assess the immune effects consequent to chronic exposure to pesticides, mainly dithiocarbamate fungicides in humans at the work place. The project was entitled “Toxicological evaluation of the immune function of pesticide workers, a European wide assessment” and had the acronym EUROPIT. In the context of policy-related benefits, the initial objectives of the project were defined as follows: to provide data to be used by industry, agriculture, and environmental and health decision-makers to define adequate strategies for the prevention of immunemediated diseases, which are at present particularly relevant in the EU, and to provide data adequate to be used for the authorization of pesticides, according to the Council Directive 91/414/EEC of July 15, 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, which provides the EU with a harmonized system for the authorization and marketing of agricultural pesticides. The findings of the study showed that even if subtle immune alterations associatedwith exposure could be detected, no clinically significant effects could be noted of the intermittent and low-dose exposure to dithiocarbamates, and consequently the exposure did not pose a significant health risk to the exposed subjects. Taking into account the lack of significant differences among studied population in genetic background for analyzed genes, one may assume that the conclusions are not highly biased by this diversity. This indicates that no further policy measures than that are already in place need to be taken to minimize the immunotoxic risk. As pesticide control of crops is an economically important issue, the absence of a requirement to take further precautionary measures presents an obvious economic and health benefit to the society. It should, however, be mentioned that, like in any other study on agricultural workers, the size of the studied groups is relatively small, and this limit could affect the possibility of identifying slight and subtle changes; and, on the other hand, alterations in immune status and function, which may be tolerated well in normal healthy adults, could have more serious consequences for those who are chronically sick, malnourished, or whose immune system has yet to develop or is in decline, underlying the importance to monitor pesticide exposure to the general population and define, when necessary, appropriate preventive measures. In this issue of Human and Experimental Toxicology, a selection of the studies is presented. Corsini et al. provide an overview of immunotoxicity associated with pesticide exposure in humans. The article by Fustioni et al. describes exposure patterns in the studiedpopulation.Oneof the five field studies carried out within EUROPIT (i.e., the one in the Netherlands) isdescribed byvanAmelsvoort et al.,whereas Steerenberg et al. provide an overview of all immunotoxicological outcomes in the studies. Baranska et al. describe the influence of selected genetic polymorphisms on the response to vaccination in the studied population. Swaen et al. provide an overview of allergy outcomes. Finally, Broers et al. describe asthma outcomes. Human & Experimental Toxicology (2008) 27: 669