Many of the pesticides applied to food crops in this country are present in foods and may pose risks to human health. Current regulations are intended to protect the health of the general population by controlling pesticide use. This book explores whether the present regulatory approaches adequately protect infants and children, who may differ from adults in susceptibility and in dietary exposures to pesticide residues. The committee focuses on four major areas: Susceptibility: Are children more susceptible or less susceptible than adults to the effects of dietary exposure to pesticides? Exposure: What foods do infants and children eat, and which pesticides and how much of them are present in those foods? Is the current information on consumption and residues adequate to estimate exposure? Toxicity: Are toxicity tests in laboratory animals adequate to predict toxicity in human infants and children? Do the extent and type of toxicity of some chemicals vary by species and by age? Assessing risk: How is dietary exposure to pesticide residues associated with response? How can laboratory data on lifetime exposures of animals be used to derive meaningful estimates of risk to children? Does risk accumulate more rapidly during the early years of life? This book will be of interest to policymakers, administrators of research in the public and private sectors, toxicologists, pediatricians and other health professionals, and the pesticide industry.

This volume of the IARC Monographs provides evaluations of the carcinogenicity of some organophosphate insecticides and herbicides, including diazinon, glyphosate, malathion, parathion, and tetrachlorvinphos. Diazinon acts on a wide range of insects on crops, gardens, livestock, and pets, but most uses have been restricted in the USA, Canada, and the European Union since the 1980s. Glyphosate is the most heavily used agricultural and residential herbicide in the world, and has been detected in soil, air, surface water, and groundwater, as well as in food. Malathion is one of the oldest and most widely used organophosphate insecticides, and has a broad spectrum of applications in agriculture and public health, notably mosquito control. The insecticide parathion has been largely banned or restricted throughout the world due to toxicity to wildlife and humans. Tetrachlorvinphos is banned in the European Union, but continues to be used in the USA and elsewhere as an insecticide on animals, including in pet flea collars. The IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard to humans of these agents.

Health Effects of Pesticides covers various aspects of the use of pesticides, their behaviour, degradation, and impacts on the agrarian environment. It focuses on pesticide poisoning incidents and farm practices in developing countries. The health impacts of pesticides, including neurological, respiratory, and dermal effects, are examined. Other repercussions caused as a result of pesticides, including reproductive abnormalities and cancer, are comprehensively discussed. Effects of pesticides on general health and agrarian health surveys have been touched upon. Please note: This volume is Co-published with The Energy and Resources Institute Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Crop protection continues to be an important component of modern farming to maintain food production to feed an expanding human population, but considerable changes have occurred in the regulation of pesticides in Europe in the last decade. The aim has been to reduce their impact on people and the environment. This has resulted in a major reduction in the number of chemicals approved for application on crops. In other parts of the world, a continuing expansion in the growing of genetically modified crops has also changed the pattern of pesticide use. In this second edition, Graham Matthews, updates how pesticides are registered and applied and the techniques used to mitigate their effects in the environment. Information on operator safety, protection of workers in crops treated with pesticides and spray drift affecting those who live in farming areas is also discussed. By bringing together the most recent research on pesticides in a single volume, this book provides a vital up to date resource for agricultural scientists, agronomists, plant scientists, plant pathologists, entomologists, environmental scientists, public health personnel, toxicologists and others working in the agrochemical industry and governments. It should assist development of improvements in harmonising regulation of pesticides in countries with limited resources for registration of pesticides.

Following World War II, chemical companies and agricultural experts promoted the use of synthetic chemicals as pesticides on weeds and insects. It was, Pete Daniel points out, a convenient way for companies to apply their wartime research to the domestic market. In Toxic Drift, Daniel documents the particularly disastrous effects this campaign had on the South's public health and environment, exposing the careless mentality that allowed pesticide application to swerve out of control. The quest to destroy pests, Daniel contends, unfortunately outran research on insect resistance, ignored environmental damage, and downplayed the dangers of residue accumulation and threats to fish, wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Using legal sources, archival records, newspapers, and congressional hearings, Daniel constructs a moving, fact-filled account of the use, abuse, and regulation of pesticides from World War II until 1970.

The impetus for this book came from numerous requests by public and private agencies and citizens for information regarding the human health effects of pes ticide exposures. We have tried to compile a relatively complete, concise sum mary of the acute and chronic health effects and the toxicology of pesticides in a format that provides quick and easy access. This book was written to address the needs of the following groups: medical and public health professionals, tox icologists, environmentalists, industrial hygienists, regulators, producers and users of pesticides, public interest advocates, and the legal profession. Acknowledgments We are indebted to Mr. Christopher J. Wiant, Chief of the Environmental Chemistry Section of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The financial support provided by his office was essential in producing this book. We are also indebted to Dr. Charles Benbrook, former staff member, and Representative George E. Brown, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Depart ment Operations, Research and Foreign Agriculture of the Committee on Agri culture, United States House of Representatives, for their guidance in obtain ing pesticide toxicity data. In the Freedom of Information Office, Office of Pesticide Programs of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the patience and assistance of Therese Murtagh and Virginia Salzman in obtaining documents are appreciated. Of the numerous individuals who participated in the production of this book, the following merit special recognition for the quality of their research, editing, and critical skills: Mark Loafman, Sue Ramirez, Steve Smith, Sally Burns, and Denise Steurer.

Andre Leu challenges conventional farming methods by refuting the myths that surround the use and understanding of pesticides. He exposes the dangers of these chemicals and advocates organic practices as the most viable for farming in the 21st Century.