Influence of Pesticides on Increasing Soil Radioactivity

Abstract

The article examines the effect of pesticides on the number of radionuclides in the soil and, therefore, the effect on the health of animals and humans. In the 60s and 80s of the twentieth century, thousands of tons of pesticides were used in the agricultural sector of the Republic of Uzbekistan to combat pests and diseases. For this, more than 500 agricultural airfields have been created throughout the country. Over the years, due to the use of DDT, HCH, and other types of pesticides, oncological diseases of the cardiovascular and digestive systems have increased by 4-7 times. As a result, in the 1990s, using of pesticides in agriculture was banned by the state. However the hundreds of tons of pesticides mixed with the soil at former agricultural airfields and continue to harm the soil to this day. The only one in the Surkhandarya region alone, there are 52 former agricultural airfields, most of which are now used by farms and the population as agricultural land. Between 1990 and 2018, over 45% of the population living this area was diagnosed with digestive cancer, and almost half of them died before the age of 60. According to the Surkhandarya Regional Oncological Dispensary, the incidence of cancer in the region in 2018 increased 12 times compared to 1990. Of the 176 patients who visited the dispensary in 2018, 128 (72.7%) lived in or near former agricultural airfields. It is determined in the article that pesticides penetrate into the porous parts of the soil and form a thin film, preventing the dissolution of radionuclides in water and the transition to the ground part of the earth. This has been studied and proven by electron microscopy and mass spectrometry. It was also confirmed that the concentration of radionuclides increases in soils with a high content of pesticides. The effect of pesticides and radionuclides in the birth of various oncological diseases in the digestive organs of mammals and humans is shown.