Pesticide residues in vegetables and risk assessment for consumers in Korea during 2010-2014.

This study was carried out to assess the exposure to pesticide residues from vegetable consumption of residents in Seoul using data on pesticide residue concentrations and the quantity of vegetables consumed. A total of 34,520 samples of 96 types of vegetables collected from 2010 to 2014 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government Institute of Health and Environment (SIHE) were analysed for 283 different pesticide residues. Among the vegetable samples, 86.1% did not contain any measurable levels of pesticide and 1.4% had residues exceeding Maximum Residue Limits (MRL). A total of 105 different pesticide residues were found and 45 residues exceeded MRLs. The most commonly found residues were azoxystrobin, diethofencarb, procymidone, cypermethrin, and tebufenpyrad. A total of 547 vegetable samples from 37 different types of vegetables had residues exceeding MRLs. From these results, 20 agrochemicals were chosen based on their high level of detection and violation rate of the MRL. The potential health risk associated with exposure to the pesticides through vegetable intake was estimated as a Risk Index (RI, %ADI). For a citizen of Seoul, the RIs of the mean value and 97.5th percentile were shown to be 0.0 ~ 7.4% and 0.4 ~ 73.9% respectively. For citizens of Seoul by age (consumers only), the highest RIs for children (under 6 years old) and the elderly (over 65 years old) were with chlorothalonil, and the estimated daily intakes (EDI) were 56.0%, 112.5%, respectively, of its ADI. For adults (19 ~ 64 years old) the highest RI was for chlorfenapyr and the EDI reached 118.6%. These results show that, despite the high levels of some pesticide residues, they may not be considered as a serious public health problem.

Do the Emotions of Middle-Income Mothers Affect Fetal Development More Than Those of High-Income Mothers?-The Association between Maternal Emotion and Fetal Development.

This study examines the relationship between the emotions of mothers and fetal development and explores the modifying effect that family income has on this relationship. Socio-demographic information, maternal depression, stress, positive and negative emotions, and maternal-fetal attachment data were collected at 16-20 weeks of pregnancy. Data on fetal body weight and biparietal diameter indicating fetal development were collected at 33-35 weeks to observe the longitudinal effects of mothers' emotions on fetal development. We divided subjects into two groups: those with more than 150% of the median income were classified as the high-income group and less than 150% as the middle-income group. T-test, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis on maternal emotional status and fetal development were performed for each group. A positive correlation was found between maternal-fetal attachment and negative emotion that was associated with the biparietal diameter and fetal body weight only in the middle-income group. Results of the multiple regression analysis were statistically significant, indicating that maternal-fetal attachment was associated with fetal weight. These results show that the management of subjective emotion is associated with healthy development of the fetus and contributes to health equity.

A retrospective cohort study of Parkinson's disease in Korean shipbuilders.

OBJECTIVE: We performed a retrospective cohort study in South Korea to clarify the role of occupational exposure, especially to welding, in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: We constructed a database of subjects classified into an exposure group (blue-collar workers) and a non-exposure group (white-collar workers) in two shipbuilding companies. Jobs of blue-collar workers were categorized into the first group of welding, the second group of fitting, grinding and finishing, cutting, and the other group. To determine new cases of PD during the follow-up period (1992-2003), we used the physician billing claims database of the National Health Insurance Corporation. For the detected PD patients in the physician billing claims database, a neurologist in our research team confirmed the appropriateness of each diagnosis by reviewing medical charts. Based on the review, we confirmed the numbers of new cases of PD and calculated the relative risk (RR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) by Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: In a backward selection procedure, 'age' was a significant independent variable but exposure was not. Furthermore, the RR in welders (high exposure group) was also insignificant and less than that in others (very low exposure group). CONCLUSION: This longitudinal study of shipbuilding workers supports our previous case-control studies suggesting that exposure to manganese does not increase the risk of PD.