Assessing Silicone Wristbands as Sampling Devices by Determining Pesticide Recovery

Silicone wristbands consist of a porous surface with the potential to sequester organic contaminants in the environment. Their properties allow for them to be used as a novel sampling approach to assessing personal human exposure to environmental contaminants. The purpose of the study was to understand the effectiveness of silicone wristbands as sampling devices. This was addressed by identifying and quantifying pesticide recovery from exposed wristbands. Triplicate groups of wristbands were dosed with 37 persistent organochlorine or organophosphate pesticides and then extracted to estimate human exposure through recovery. Results suggest that silicone wristbands have the potential to absorb a number of pesticides and organic contaminants, although at varying rates and quantities. As more uptake and sequestration rates can be established, wristbands have the potential to serve as indicators of human exposure to a variety of pesticides and other chemical groups at trace amounts.