Second-generation pesticides

Nimmo, D.R., T.L. Hamaker, E. Matthews, and J.C. Moore. 1981. An overview of the acute and chronic effects of first and second generation pesticides on an estuarine mysid. Pages 3-19 in J. Vernberg, A. Calabrese, F.P. Thurberg, and W.B. Vernberg (eds.). Biological Monitoring of Marine Pollutants. Academic Press, New York. 

Ultimately, with the dawn of second-generation pesticides, the tide turned away from biological control agents toward the chemical control of insect pests. Interestingly, it was not an agricultural crop, but rather a pubhc health discovery that led the way. Sir Ronald Ross, a British doctor who allowed an Anopheles mosquito to feed on a malaria patient, observed the malaria parasite in the gut of the... 

Unfortunately, the very same properties that led to the popularity of second-generation pesticides were also their Achilles heel, and the cause of many of their environmental difficulties. The oily (in other words, lipophilic) nature of the compound, while allowing it to stick to leaves and walls, also allowed it to stick to skin, where it would eventually difiuse without the help of protein carriers into the blood of animals. The lipophilic nature of DDT increased the chemical s efficacy as a pesticide, as it allowed the chemical to rapidly enter insects, where it has its toxic impacts. Indeed, the lipophilic nature of these compounds also increases their capacity to absorb into (and decreases their capacity to be excreted from) non-target species, including humans. 

Lund, M. (1984). Resistance to the second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. Proceedings of the 11th Vertebral Pesticide Conference, Sacramento, CA, p. 89. 

Aerosol products are hermetically sealed, ensuring that the contents caimot leak, spill, or be contaminated. The packages can be considered to be tamper-proof. They deUver the product in an efficient manner generating Httie waste, often to sites of difficult access. By control of particle size, spray pattern, and volume deUvered per second, the product can be appHed directiy without contact by the user. For example, use of aerosol pesticides can minimize user exposure and aerosol first-aid products can soothe without applying painful pressure to a wound. Spray contact lens solutions can be appHed directiy and aerosol lubricants (qv) can be used on machinery in operation. Some preparations, such as stable foams, can only be packaged as aerosols. 

There are two types of handlers of universal waste. The first type of handler is a person who generates, or creates, universal waste. For example, this may include a person who uses batteries, pesticides, thermostats, or lamps and who eventually decides that they are no longer usable. The second type of handler is a person who receives universal waste from other handlers, accumulates the waste, and then sends it on to other handlers, recyclers, or treatment or disposal facilities without performing the actual treatment, recycling, or disposal. This may include a person who collects batteries, pesticides, or thermostats from small businesses and sends the wastes to a recycling facility. The universal waste handler requirements depend on how much universal waste a handler accumulates at any one time. 

As an example of incinerator use in the pesticide industry, one plant operates two incinerators to dispose of wastewater from six pesticide products [7]. They are rated at heat release capacities of 35 and 70 milhon Btu/hour and were designed to dispose of two different wastes. The first primary feed stream consists of approximately 95% organics and 5% water. The second stream consists of approximately 5% organics and 95% water. The energy generated in burning the primary stream is anticipated to vaporize all water in the secondary stream and to oxidize all the organics present. Wastes from two of the six pesticide processes use 0.55% and 4.68% of the incinerator capacity, respectively. The volume of the combined pesticide... 

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