Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos of French children from the Elfe cohort
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Updated: Apr 30, 2026
Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Elisa Thépaut1, Cleo Tebby2, Michèle Bisson3
1Unité Toxicologie ExpérimentAle et Modélisation, INERIS, Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; Péritox (UMR_I 01), UPJV, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, 80025, Amiens, France.
Background:
The organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos was widely used in the European Union before its ban in 2020 and was associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, within the concept of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, in utero exposure to chlorpyrifos can lead to neurodevelopmental effects in developing children.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to estimate fetal exposure to chlorpyrifos using biomonitoring data measured in Elfe pregnant women and a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) approach and compare exposure to toxicological reference values.
Methods:
A pregnancy-PBPK model was developed based on an existing adult chlorpyrifos model and a new toxicological reference value was proposed for neurodevelopmental effects. The pregnant women exposure was estimated based on dialkylphosphate (DAP) levels in urine assuming constant exposure to chlorpyrifos and compared to both the existing toxicological reference value and the new proposed draft toxicological reference value. Fetal internal concentrations in target tissues were then predicted using the developed pregnancy-PBPK model. Urinary concentrations of the chlorpyrifos-specific metabolite (TCPy) were also predicted for comparison with other biomonitoring data.
Results:
The median daily exposure to chlorpyrifos for the French pregnant women from the Elfe cohort was estimated at 6.3x10-4 μg/kg body weight/day. The predicted urinary excretion of TCPy, the chlorpyrifos-specific metabolite, is in the same range as observed in other European cohorts (mean: 2.13 μg/L). Predicted brain chlorpyrifos levels were similar in pregnant women and their fetus and were 10-fold higher than the predicted blood chlorpyrifos levels. It was estimated that 6% and 20% of the pregnant women population had been exposed to levels exceeding the general population and draft toxicological reference values, respectively.
Conclusions:
Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos was estimated for the French population based on data from the Elfe cohort. Internal chlorpyrifos concentrations in target tissues (brain and blood) were predicted for fetuses at the end of the pregnancy. Under a conservative assumption, a small percentage of the population was identified as being exposed to levels exceeding the toxicological reference values.
