Schenker-MB; Offerman-SR; Albertson-TE
Environmental and occupational medicine, 4th edition. Rom WN, Markowitz SB, eds. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006 Dec; :1158-1180
Pesticides are biocidal agents used to control a wide variety of organisms that pose a threat to health or compete for food or other materials (Table 74.1). Selective toxicity for the target pest is the principle of pesticide use, but because organisms are similar at the cellular or subcellular level, adverse human health effects may occur. The earliest pesticides included metals such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. Some pesticides are inorganic chemicals, such as sulfur, and others are organic chemicals, such as the alkaloid nicotine derived from plants. After the discovery of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1939, the world witnessed an unprecedented increase in the search for and production of synthetic organic pesticides. Production of inorganic pesticides such as arsenicals has steadily declined since the 1940s. The prolonged ecologic half-life and lack of species selectivity of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides was recognized in the 1960s. These pesticide characteristics and concern about the effects of accumulation of organochlorines in human adipose tissue caused the banning or severe restriction of most of these agents in the United States and most of the world. In their place, newer synthetic pesticides, predominantly organophosphorus, carbamate, and pyrethrin compounds, have been developed and are now widely used. These agents cause less environmental damage through accumulation but are often more acutely toxic to humans and other animal species.
Pesticides; Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals; Biological-agents; Biological-effects; Biological-factors; Pests; Control-systems; Control-technology; Controlled-atmospheres; Controlled-environment; Health-hazards; Health-protection; Health-standards; Mercury-compounds; Mercury-poisoning; Mercury-vapors; Arsenic-compounds; Arsenic-herbicides; Arsenic-poisoning; Arsenites; Lead-absorption; Lead-compounds; Lead-poisoning; Chemical-agent-detectors; Chemical-analysis; Chemical-hypersensitivity; Chemical-indicators; Chemical-properties; Chemical-reactions; Chemical-structure; Chemical-synthesis; Chemical-warfare-agents; Organo-chlorine-compounds; Environmental-exposure; Environmental-factors; Environmental-hazards; Environmental-health; Environmental-health-monitoring; Environmental-pollution; Environmental-protection; Environmental-stress; Animal-studies; Animals
Agriculture; Cooperative Agreement
Environmental and occupational medicine, 4th edition
University of California - Davis