Studying DDTs in agricultural soils of selected rural communities of Armenia

To study organochlorine pesticides and organophosphorus pesticides contents and assess pesticideinduced health risk in Armenia,the contents of pesticides were determined in 252 soil samples taken from relatively large plots of agricultural land in 25 rural communities.The results showed that only∑DDT contents were detected in 39 out of 252 soil samples.The identified contents of∑DDT mainly consisted of pp’-DDE,suggesting historical use.6 out of 12 rural communities are characterized by the presence of former pesticide storehouses site.The excesses versus Maximum Acceptable Concentration were observed in 26 out of 39 samples and ranges from 1.03 to 464.9 times.The health risk assessment showed that non-carcinogenic risk is below the allowable level(HQ<1).However,the carcinogenic risk is above the allowable level of<10^-4 in all cases when∑DDT is detected.Of all studied rural communities,the presence of observed∑DDT and associated risk to the local population was detected mainly in the majority of sampling sites in Jrashen(Ararat region),Aramus(Kotayq region)and Khanjyan(Armavir region).Therefore,special attention should be given to the riskiest rural communities and risk reduction measures are needed to reduce or eliminate observed carcinogenic health effect.