Assessment of dermal exposure of greenhouse workers to the pesticide bupirimate.

An HPLC method was developed for estimation of dermal exposure of greenhouse workers to the pesticide bupirimate. Chromatography was performed on a cyano-modified silica column with methanol-water (6:4 by volume) containing 5 g/L ammonium sulfate as eluent. UV detection at 310 nm was used for quantitation. Dermal exposure was assessed by letting the workers wear cotton gloves and by measuring foliar dislodgable residues in the greenhouses as potential exposure. The analytical procedure was validated for measurement of bupirimate on cotton gloves and in solutions used for the estimation of foliar dislodgable residues. Gloves were extracted with methanol. Recovery of bupirimate from fortified gloves was complete. Methanol extracts with one volume of water added and solutions containing dislodgable residues were injected directly onto the HPLC system. The limit of detection was 30 micrograms/L. Between-day coefficients of variation were 7 and 4% at concentrations of 0.6 and 28 mg/L, respectively.