NCJ Number
223897
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 997-1000
Date Published
July 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on the first French case of poisoning with dichlorvos (2,2 dichlorovinyl O-O dimethylphosphate or DDVP), with tissue distribution assessed by a new gas chromatographic method.
Abstract
The study findings confirm the high cardiac tropism of DDVP and its high toxicity for humans. In the case at issue, a 54-year-old man was found dead, with a bottle containing a brownish fluid near him. The label on the bottle mentioned “Denkavepon M50” and indicated that the bottle contained 47.5 percent DDVP, one of the organophosphate insecticides that have sufficient selective toxicity to insects. At autopsy, a systematic toxicological screening by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/diode-array detector (LC/DAD) was conducted. Only DDVP was found by GC/MS and LC/DAD screenings in whole blood, urine, and gastric content. This method allowed the measurement of DDVP in all samples. DDVP concentration in cardiac blood was approximately four times higher than in peripheral blood. A high concentration was found in the heart, showing a cardiac tropism of DDVP; kidney and lung concentrations were much lower. No DDVP was found in the liver. DDVP stomach content was 38 g. The amount presumed ingested was 82 g, approximately 1,000 mg/kg of body. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 12 references