Chapter 40 - Public Health Impacts of Organophosphates and Carbamates

Abstract

The public health importance of the continued application of pesticides in integrated pest management, and the control of outbreaks and vector-borne disease is overshadowed by the concern for human exposure and health effects, particularly in small children. In an effort to portray the positive and negative impacts of organophosphates (OPs) and carbamates (CMs) in public health, two subtopics are reviewed in this chapter: uses of OPs and CMs in the control of vector-borne diseases, and children's exposures to OPs and CMs. The public health impacts of OPs and CMs embody the frontline public health response for prevention and control of outbreaks of vector-borne diseases. Their applications have made possible for society to enjoy a wide range of foods in large quantities at low costs. No only is the use of these chemicals preventing disease, but it is also promoting the mutation of vectors such that new diseases and re-emergence of diseases once nearly eradicated are at epidemic levels in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Also, while they are used to protect public health from disease, they have also been associated with undesirable chronic health effects in adult populations and developmental effects in children. On one hand their use provides diverse, low-cost food, on the other it also taints breast milk and foods commonly consumed by children. With the implementation of the Food Quality and Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), regulatory and public health agencies will be charged with maintaining a delicate balance of the use of OPs and CMs in the broader pesticide category.