.jpeg)
What is a pesticide?
They are chemical substances that are meant to control pests.
A pesticide is a chemical (such as carbamate) or biological agent (such as a virus, bacterium, or fungus) that deters, incapacitates, kills, or otherwise discourages pests.
Most pesticides are intended to serve as plant protection products (also known as crop protection products), which in general, protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects.
Term pesticide is often treated as synonymous with plant protection product. It is commonly used to eliminate or control a variety of agricultural pests that can damage crops and livestock and reduce farm productivity.
The most commonly applied pesticides are insecticides to kill insects, herbicides to kill weeds, rodenticides to kill rodents, and fungicides to control fungi, Mould, and mildew.
Definition of pesticide According
to FAO: Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying or controlling any pest, including vectors of human or animal disease, unwanted species of plants or animals, causing harm during or otherwise interfering with the production, processing, storage, transport, or marketing of food, agricultural commodities, wood and wood products or animal feedstuffs, or substances that may be administered to animals for the control of insects, arachnids, or other pests in or on their bodies.
What affects most with pesticide exposure?
Pesticides have the potential to contaminate soil, water, turf, and other vegetation. Pesticides, in addition to killing insects and weeds, can be toxic to a variety of other organisms such as birds, fish, beneficial insects, and non-target plants.
How long does the pesticide chemical can last in soil?
Can last anywhere from several months to three or more years before completely decomposing into inert compounds, depending on the type of herbicide and the level of concentration in the soil.
WHAT IS PESTICIDE POISONING?
Pesticide poisoning occurs when pesticides, which are chemicals intended to control pests, affect non-target organisms including humans and wildlife.
Pesticide exposure can cause a variety of adverse health effects, ranging from simple irritation of the skin and eyes to more severe effects such as affecting the nervous system, hearing, mimicking hormones causing reproductive problems, and also causing cancer.
Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil.
Pests can develop a resistance to the pesticide necessitating a new pesticide. Alternatively, a greater dose of the pesticide can be used to counteract the resistance, although this will cause a worsening of the ambient pollution problem.
Symptoms of poisoning may occur in patients who have been instantly exposed to large amounts of toxic chemicals or in patients who have been steadily exposed to smaller amounts of toxic material over time.
Exposure to pesticides can be through contact with the skin, ingestion, or inhalation. The type of pesticide, the duration and route of exposure, and the individual health status are determining factors in the possible health outcome.
Toxicity also depends on the rate of absorption, distribution within the body, metabolism, and elimination of compounds from the body.
Commonly used pesticides like organophosphates and carbamates act by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity, which prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine at the neural synapse. Excess acetylcholine can lead to symptoms like muscle cramps or tremors, confusion, dizziness and nausea.
Current agriculture has to implement environmentally friendlier practices that pose fewer public health risks. Reforming agricultural practices aligned to fulfill these criteria is a step toward the sustainability of the agricultural sector in contrast to precision agriculture.
Symptoms of pesticide poisoning?
Pesticides in a certain chemical group (organophosphates, carbamates, chlorinated hydrocarbons) can affect the human body in different ways.
These symptoms may be divided into mild poisoning, moderate poisoning, and severe poisoning.
Mild poisoning
eye irritation headache fatigue
irritation of the nose, throat
skin irritation, dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite ,sweating,moodiness,restlessness,weakness nervousness, soreness in joints, thirst.
Moderate poisoning
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, excessive sweating, excessive salivation, coughing, extreme weakness, difficulty breathing, blurred vision,
rapid pulse, trembling, yellowish or flushed skin, mental confusion.
Severe poisoning
increased rate of breathing, inability to breathe, vomiting, muscle twitching, convulsions, intense thirst, chemical burns on the skin, unconsciousness.
Presence of poisoning?
Pesticide residue refers to the pesticides that may remain on or in food after they are applied to food crops. The maximum allowable levels of these residues in foods are often stipulated by regulatory bodies in many countries.
Furthermore, it should be noted that washing and peeling cannot completely remove the residues.
Pesticides residues have also been detected in human breast milk samples, and there are concerns about prenatal exposure and health effects in children.
Loss of activity or toxicity of pesticides is due to both innate chemical properties of the compounds and environmental processes or conditions.
Characterizing children's exposure resulting from drift of airborne and spray application of pesticides is similarly challenging, yet well documented in developing countries.
Development periods of the fetus and newborn children, these non-working populations are more vulnerable to the effects of pesticides and may be at increased risk of developing neurocognitive effects and impaired development.
Unprotected way of pesticide application. |  | Protected way of pesticides applications. |
Ways to reduce the pesticide exposure:
Use of protected gear for spraying the pesticide application.
Usage of recommended dosage with safety measures.
While mixing the chemical using of stick is recommended so that the hands can't be contacted with the chemicals.
needed for a reduction in the use of agrochemicals and for the implementation of sustainable practices.
Implementation of first aid practices whenever it is required.
The applicant who sprays the pesticide application should be aware of livestock, animals, children.
REUSE of protected gear for application of pesticides is prohibited.
Before application of pesticides, the manual should be read, and instructions should be followed.
In case of poisoning, the affected person should be treated fast and bringing the applied pesticide bottle could help the medical practitioner to prescribe the medicines.
selected technological tools can be used to decrease risks for environmental pollution and water pollution and to enhance economic benefits stemming from the reduction in the use of chemical products.
The overproduction of food, export-oriented monocultures, the demand for cheap labor, and the other characteristics of industrialization have clearly failed to solve the problems of hunger and malnutrition. This can be the root-cause for the pesticide exposure. Pesticide-free, organic food production, and because it does not determine pesticide use levels, for this reason, international eco-friendly standards should be implemented.
BY KHAS.
