OBJECTIVE: In view of both the economic importance of ethylenebisdithiocarbamate (EBDC) fungicides in the current agricultural practice and the potential health hazards associated with ethylenethiourea (ETU) exposure, this study aimed to develop and validate a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to determine ETU in biological and environmental samples.

METHODS: The samples were pre-treated according to sample types and were analyzed for ETU using a reversed-phase HPLC system (JASCO?) equipped with UV detector set at 230 nm using C18 bonded silica column and a mobile phase of 0.05M ammonium acetate in methanol (95:5).

RESULTS: The method showed a limit of detection of 0.2 ug/L, with a precision of 3.33 to 12.86 %CV and an accuracy of >90% at 1, 10 and 100 ug/L of ETU in all sample types. The calibration curve was linear from 1 to 200 ug/L for blood, air and water samples and 1 to 2000 ug/L for urine.

CONCLUSION: This method showed an acceptable accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity and was used subsequently to determine ETU levels in blood, urine, air, soil and water samples among banana plantation workers.