INDOOR MONITORING OF HOMES WITH WOOL CARPETS TREATED WITH PERMETHRIN

摘要

Textile floor coverings with wool are usually treated with the moth repellent permethrin, an insecticide belonging to the pyrethroid group, to protect against insect damage.To clarify whether this may cause adverse health effects, we investigated the indoor exposure to permethrin in 80 private homes with wool floor coverings (monitoring of permethrin concentrations in wool fibers, house dust, and on suspended particles in the air). Furthermore, three permethrin metabolites were determined in the urine of the inhabitants.The permethrin concentrations found in house dust ranged from <1 to 659 mg/kg. The concentrations observed in the air varied between <1 and 15.2 ng/m~3. Correlations between house dust permethrin concentrations and permethrin concentrations in the air were not found. The metabolite concentrations determined in the urine of the inhabitants were in the same range as those of the general population.