Pesticides human-health effects

EPA (1999), Human Health Risk Assessment Methyl Parathion, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs, Health Effects Division, Washington, DC. 

Davies, J.E., Lee, J.A. (1987) Changing profiles in human health effects of pesticides. Pestic. Sci. Biotechnol. 53. 

Zahm, S. etal. Pestiddes and Cancer. InKeffer, M. (ed.) Human Health Effects of Pesticides. Occupational Medicine State of the Art Reviews. Vol 12. No 2 (1997)... 

US Environmental Protection Agency (US ERA) (2000a). Human health risk assessment for diazinon. US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of Pesticide Programs Health Effects Division, Washington, D.C. 

Many options are available where chemistry contributes to agriculture, and more specifically, to production of field crops. Most notably is the development and use of chemical pesticides for control of harmfiil weeds, insects and diseases. Unfortunately, a few pesticides contribute to adverse enviromnental and human health effects and promote an adverse public view of pesticides in general. DDT is the quintessential exanqrle of a beneficial insecticide, which saved many hiunan lives by killing insects such as mosquitoes, lice and fleas that transmit serious human diseases like malaria, typhus (19), but was also contributed to enviromnental contamination because of the phenomenon known as biological magnification in the food chain. Without delving into a specific... 

S. Baker and C. Wilkinson, eds.. The Effects of Pesticides on Human Health, Princeton Scientific Publishing Co., Princeton, N.J., 1990. 

Compounds Affecting Rq>roduction Compounds that can affect reproductive function include several drugs and occupationally important chemicals such as solvents and pesticides as well as a number of environmentally relevant com-fxrunds. A group of chemical compounds that has received much attention recently is endocrine disrupters, many of which are halogenated hydrocarbons, e.g., PCBs. These are known to induce feminization in fish and other animal species.1.5/ There is intense debate about the significance of these compounds to human health. Tobacco smoke and ethyl alcohol also have major effects on human reproduction, the effects of alcohol being especially important. Table 5.17 lists compounds that may disturb the functions of female and male reproductive functions. 

Hazard identification, step one, means identification of new chemicals or other factors that may cause harmful health effects. Previously, novel hazards were usually observed in case studies or after accidents or other excessive exposures, usually in occupational environments. Today, thorough toxicity studies are required on all pesticides, food additives, and drugs. New chemicals also have to be studied for their potential toxic effects. Thus, earlier hazards were in most cases identified after they had caused harmful effects in humans. Today, most chemical products have been evaluated for their toxicity with experimental animals. Therefore, hazard identification has become a preventive procedure based on safety studies conducted before a chemical compound or product reaches the market, and before individuals are exposed to it. ... 

For methyl parathion, most of the information on health effects in humans is derived from cases of acute exposure to relatively high concentrations of the pesticide. Such reports have not addressed the issue of the potential endocrine-disrupting capacity of methyl parathion in humans. An added complication in determining whether methyl parathion has endocrine-disrupting capabilities in humans is the fact that humans are seldom exposed to a single pesticide. 

Figure 3-5 graphically depicts the information that currently exists on the health effects of methyl parathion in humans and animals by various routes of exposure. The available literature reviewed concerning the health effects of methyl parathion in humans described case reports of longer-term studies of pesticide workers and case reports of accidental or intentional ingestion of methyl parathion. The occupational exposure is believed to be via the dermal and inhalation routes. The information on human exposure is limited in that the possibility of concurrent exposure to other pesticides or other toxic substances cannot be quantified. 

EPA. 1980d. Analysis of pesticide residues in human and environmental samples A compilation of methods selected for use in pesticide monitoring programs. Research Triangle Park, NC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Effects Research Laboratory. EPA-600/8-80-038. NTIS PB82-208752. 

Children s Susceptibility. The information on health effects of endosulfan in humans is derived mainly from cases of accidental or intentional exposure of adults to high amounts of the pesticide, and the main adverse effect is neurotoxicity. No reports of adverse effects in endosulfan-exposed children were found, but it is reasonable to assume that children will exhibit similar signs and symptoms to those in adults under similar exposure conditions. Some studies in animals have provided evidence that young animals respond to endosulfan differently than adult animals (Kiran and Varma 1988 Lakshmana and Raju 1994 Sinha et al. 1995,1997 Zaidi et al. 1985), but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that young animals are more susceptible than older ones. Further studies that evaluate a number of different end points in young as well as older organisms would provide valuable information. 

The research strategies recommended by the USDA Research Planning Conference for EPA-related activities include studies ons (1) allelopathic effects on environment in terms of allelochemical persistence, activity and effectiveness, (2) ecological consequences due to alle-lochemicals, and (3) potential risks to human and animal health (37). In addition to these approaches, we should also pursue studies toward understanding the effect of ccrmercial allelochemicals, alone or in combination with other chemicals such as pesticides, on human health, safety and environment. 

In the USSR, pesticide use was an economic loss even without considering negative effects on human health and environmental damage. Using pesticides to cultivate cereals under conditions in the USSR might somehow be justified economically (though not environmentally ) when the harvest was over than 45-50 cwt/ha (in the USSR the average harvest was 14-17 cwt/ha). 

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