Hazardous Pesticides Research Articles

Reflections on Using Pesticides – A Global Problem

With climate change occurring, some of the problems in using pesticides is examined as many farmers in the less developed countries do not get the support needed so that they avoid the highly hazardous insecticides and can improve the timing and method of application to suit their crops. The lack of independent research and effective extension services in many countries has resulted in using highly hazardous pesticides as they have had to get advice from commercial agents selling pesticides.

Occupational hazards, health costs, and pesticide handling practices among vegetable growers in Pakistan

Disregarding protective measures when handling pesticides in agricultural production imposes increased health risks and health costs on farmers as well as degrades the natural ecosystem. In Pakistan, where agriculture is the prime occupation in rural communities, there is overwhelming evidence of indiscriminate use of hazardous pesticides by farmers without taking adequate precautions. Using cross-sectional data, we examined personal protection and health costs to vegetable growers due to pesticide exposure and determinants of farmers' pesticide handling practices. The theory of averting behavior was used, and the possible factors affecting farmers' adoption of safety equipment and of disposal methods for pesticide containers were estimated using a logit model. Health effects (P < 0.05) and farmers' protection and health costs (P < 0.01) are found as important determinants of farmers' adoption of safety equipment and of disposal methods for pesticide containers. The mean protection and health cost of pesticide exposure per farmer per vegetable season in 2019 was US $3.60. Analytical outcomes indicate that safe and recommended pesticide handling practices are needed to be introduced through adequate integrated pest management (IPM) training programs and by improving farmers’ formal education. Thus, creating awareness through IPM training programs among vegetable growers and enhancing formal education to encourage the adoption of precautionary measures and safe disposal methods for pesticide containers may reduce health risks and health costs. Findings imply that adoption of adequate pesticide handling practices would further help reduce occupational hazards and promote sustainable agriculture in Pakistan.

Glyphosate, Phorate, and Monocrotophos Hazardous Pesticide Usage and Its Public Health Impact – An Empirical Analysis

Background: Pesticides are used extensively around the world and it has many health significance due to the usage of glyphosate,phorates, and monocrotophos that were mainly used as organophosphate pesticides in all the countries. Aim: To evaluate the countries which banned glyphosate, phorates, and monocrotophos hazardous pesticide usage and to assess the severity of risks caused by exposure of the pesticides.Methodology: This study was based on a review of scientific publications on usage of hazardous pesticides such as glyphosate, phorates, monocrotophos, and its impact on public health.Data were retrieved from the manual and electronic database by using the search engines (PubMed and google scholar). Results: European countries had banned glyphosate, phorate, and Monocrotophos pesticides within the year 2015 to 2019 whereas in India, two states namely Punjab and Kerala had banned glyphosate pesticides by the year 2018 to 2019, Phorates pesticides had banned in 2019, and monocrotophos pesticides were banned by the two states namely Punjab and Maharashtra in the year 2018. Glyphosate pesticides caused more impact on cancer and other health effects in the body in contrast to the other two pesticides had a lesser impact on cancer.Conclusion: Chemical pesticides can protect and improve farm productivity. However, their inimical and environmental health effects makes an inadequate long-term solution. Hence, to overcome this problem, there must be minimization of the usage of chemical pesticides and introduction of eco-friendly natural pesticides, which are easily accessible, low cost, and healthy method of a pest control system.

A comparison of pesticide residues in soils from two highly technified agricultural valleys in northwestern Mexico

A pesticide characterization is presented for two highly technified valleys in northwest Mexico: Culiacan Valley (CV) in Sinaloa and Yaqui Valley (YV) in Sonora. Approximately 250,000 kg of active ingredients are used every year, half of which are considered highly hazardous pesticides. Legacy pesticides are still present in the soils of these valleys. The aim of the present study was to identify and quantify a wide variety of pesticides in soils and correlate their concentrations with historical and current use. Agricultural soils from both valleys were sampled and analyzed using accelerated solvent extraction and subsequent quantification by gas chromatography with selective detectors. The most frequently detected pesticides (mean, µg g−1) in CV were organochlorines (0.1967), organophosphates (0.0928), synthetic pyrethroids (0.2565), organonitrogen (0.0552), and miscellaneous pesticides (0.1851). In YV, the most frequently detected pesticides were organochlorines (0.8607), organophosphates (0.0001), synthetic pyrethroids (0.0124), and miscellaneous pesticides (0.0009). The pesticides were more diverse in CV compared to those of YV, which was based on the types of crops produced. Both locations presented highly hazardous pesticides, including concentrations above the action levels established by the Canadian Soil Quality Guide. A follow-up risk assessment is recommended to assess potential effects.

English

Fipronil is an N-phenylpyrazole insecticide, a second-generation insecticide which is relatively new and now commonly used in cotton growing community of rural Central India. Farmer suicide and deliberate self-poisoning is menace to the Vidarbha region of rural Central India. There is paucity of research published on fipronil poisoning, clinical features, complications and treatment data. It is scarcely documented worldwide. Agricultural insecticides are common household items in rural areas of developing countries. Because of their easy availability, insecticides became a major source of deliberate self-poisoning. As per World Health Organization (WHO), around 3 million poisoning cases with around 0.2 million deaths are noted annually in the world. 1 About 99 % of these deaths occur in developing countries. Insecticide poisoning is an important public issue in India.Around 168,000 deaths occurred from pesticide self-poisoning which totals to almost 19.7 % of the global suicides.2 The most common cause of self-poisoning in Central India is ingestion of organophosphorus compounds (OPC). Poisoning with organophosphorus compound insecticides has high mortality rate.1 In the last 20 years, there is development of a new class of insecticides in view of mortality due to accidental exposures of organophosphorus and organochlorine compounds. Fipronil being one of these chemicals, is considered less harmful to humans. According to WHO classification fipronil is class II moderately hazardous pesticide.3 Fipronil, an N-phenylpyrazole with a trifluoromethyl sulfinyl substituent, one of the first second generation insecticides, acts at the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor and blocks the chloride channel. Fipronil is often used to control pests, fleas and ticks on pets. There is, however, very less evidence or research on human beings on their toxicity; thus, post marketing surveillance is important to detect any undesirable health issues associated with these chemicals. Until now only 3 case reports are published regarding fipronil poisoning, two cases form India and others from Sri Lanka. Hence, we are reporting a case of acute fipronil poisoning which presented as acute gastritis and sinus bradycardia.

Chlorpyrifos pesticide promotes oxidative stress and increases inflammatory states in BV-2 microglial cells: A role in neuroinflammation

The exposure to environmental stressors, such as organophosphate (OP) pesticides, has been associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is the worldwide most used OP pesticide and one of the most hazardous pesticides as it can cross the blood-brain barrier. Since studies evaluating the effects of CPF on brain immune cells are scarce, this research investigated the oxidative and inflammatory responses of CPF exposure in murine microglial cells. BV-2 cells were exposed to different concentrations of CPF pesticide (0.3–300 μM). CPF induced activation of microglial cells, confirmed by Iba-1 and CD11b marking, and promoted microglial proliferation and cell cycle arrest at S phase. Moreover, CPF exposure increased oxidative stress production (NO, MDA, and O2∙), and upregulated pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and NLRP3) genes expression in BV-2 cells. Overall, data showed that CPF exposure, at the lowest concentrations, acted by promoting pro-oxidative and pro-inflammatory states in microglial cells. These results provide important information on the potential role of microglial activation in CPF-induced neuroinflammation and add to the expanding knowledge on the neurotoxicity of OP.

MICROBIAL DIVERSITY OF PESTICIDE CONTAMINATED SOIL SAMPLES FROM TALGAR REGION

Due to the increased Toxicological and environmental hazards of pesticides, the decrease in demand for them due to their lack of efficiency, low stability during storage, and violation of the integrity of packaging, the problem of accumulation of prohibited, unusable pesticides in the former territories of storage facilities for chemical plant protection products is acute in the Republic. The study of the composition of microbiocenoses of contaminated soils, as&nbsp; from the territory of disposal of toxic chemicals, is of significant scientific interest both for monitoring the environment and for isolating microorganisms that are resistant to high doses of toxicants. The method of cleaning soils contaminated with pesticides, using microorganisms-biodestructors, is undoubtedly effective and economical. In this work, we studied the microbial diversity of soil&nbsp; in the territories adjacent to the places where pesticides are buried. Samples of soil samples were taken from 7 points (kyzylkairat village, Beskaynar village, Amangeldy village-Brigade 1 (warehouse 1 and warehouse 2), Belbulak village, Brigade 2-Almaty Plemzavod JSC, Taukaraturzh village (control) of Talgar district of Almaty region.&nbsp; The characteristic of microbial and fungal flora in selected soil samples from locations of obsolete pesticides is given. 40 strains of pure cultures of microorganisms were isolated, morphological and cultural, physiological and biochemical properties were studied. As a result of studying morphological - cultural and physiological - biochemical properties, the selected cultures were previously assigned to the genera Bacillus, Rhodococcus, Pseudomonas, Rhodotorula. Key words: pesticides, microorganisms-destructors, degradation. &nbsp;

Fabrication of La2O3/Bi2O3/silver orthophosphate Heterojunction Catalyst for the Visible Light Mediated Remediation of Refractory Pollutants

The development of silver orthophosphate based ternary composite catalyst for the augmented visible light assisted photocatalytic abatement of toxic refractory pollutants was accepted. It was confounded that the synthesized catalyst effectively degrade toxic organic dyes including methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB) and acid red 18 (AR 18) with complete decolourisation and above 90 % mineralization. The hazardous pesticides such as 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), highly toxic insecticide acephate and the pharmaceutical antibiotic tetracycline were succesfully degraded. Here, it is the first time reporting La2O3/Bi2O3 doped silver orthophosphate ternary catalyst for the removal of toxic organic pollutants in a short time with excellent mineralization. The better reproducibility and accountable stability of the composite catalyst paved the way for making it a promising catalyst for future applications.

The efficacy of alternative (biorational) insecticides in suppressing damage caused by insect pests affecting callaloo, Amaranth xanthosoma andpak choy, Brassica rapa, production in Jamaica

Changes in climate are likely to result in more frequent and intense pest outbreaks and with the pervasive use of broad spectrum synthetic insecticides within agricultural production systems in Jamaica, this is likely to lead to the increased use of synthetic pesticides, which are known to have adverse environmental effects and increase the risk of unacceptable levels of residue entering the food chain. Monitoring by the Pesticide Control Authority of Jamaica revealed more frequent detection of synthetic pesticide residues on pak choy and callaloo, thus highlighting the need to identify less hazardous pesticides for use on these crops. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of selected biopesticides against insect pests affecting callaloo andpak choy production in the parishes of Clarendon, St Elizabeth and Kingston. Monitoring began a week after plots were established to assess pest damage and treatments done when damage reached a pre-determined economic threshold. Yield was assessed at the end of the crop cycle. The percentage damaged leaves varied significantly (P=0.012) by type and location of crop ranging from 35.49 ±2.53 % in Kingston to 69.89±2.71 % in St. Catherine. However, there was no significant difference in the harvested yield (315.2±11.8–475.7±33.0 grams/plant). There was also no significant difference in the marketable yield from plots treated with biorationals (211.2±31.3g – 288.1±16.1 grams/plant) when compared to plots treated with synthetic pesticides (188.5±13.3g–216.6±26.5 grams/plant).

Agrochemical pesticide production, trade, and hazard: Narrowing the information gap in Colombia

Pesticides are a major tool for the intensification of agriculture, and helped to increase food, feed and biofuel production. Yet, there are persistent concerns about the negative effects of pesticides in human health and the environment, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Given the lack of information on pesticide exposure and hazard, Colombia exemplifies the need to narrow the information gap on pesticide risk in LMICs. We assessed pesticide hazard in Colombia based on the official toxicity categorization, compared it to more integral international standards, and identified main actions to narrow this information gap. Results showed that Colombia has been a relevant regional actor in pesticide production and trade, reaching almost 75 million kilogrammes and liters sold in 2016. Based on acute toxicity for humans, a quarter of the amount of pesticides sales and imports, and a third of the exports in 2016 ranged from moderately to extremenly toxic. The top-selling agrochemicals in 2016 (glyphosate with 14% of the total sales, chlorpyrifos 7.5% and mancozeb 6.9%) are also commonly used in other countries, reflecting a homogenized global industry. Compared to integral international categorizations, we found that for that year 63% of the pesticides sold with slightly acute toxicity are actually considered highly hazardous pesticides (HHP) for humans or the environment, evidencing the need to use a more integral hazard categorization in the country. Narrowing the information gap in pesticide use and associated risks demands a transparent process of knowledge creation and sharing, including funtional information and monitoring systems. This should be part of an integral assessment and regulation that better defines HHP, their production and trade to reduce pesticide risk while informing a transition towards sustainable food systems.

Recent-enhancements in visible-light photocatalytic degradation of organochlorines pesticides: A review

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) belong to class of chlorinated hydrocarbon derivative. They come under the category of most hazardous pesticides and therefore have been banned in many countries. These compounds are highly toxic, bio-accumulative and highly persistent in nature and therefore removal of such pesticide is need of the hour. There have been conventional techniques based on the physical, chemical, and biological processes to decontaminate the contaminated water depending on the virtues of toxic contaminants present in wastewater. These conventional techniques have been utilized on a large scale by the industries. However, these techniques do not manage to remove the contaminants to a large extent and have different drawbacks. Therefore, to overcome such shortcomings, a highly efficient green technique is required to disintegrate the toxic contaminants either completely or convert them into non-hazardous substances.Photocatalysis is a green technique and has attracted attention in the degradation of persistent organic pollutants in water and convert them into non-hazardous compounds. This review outlines all major types of OCPs, their metabolites, the different techniques for their removal global concern towards pesticide effect and areas which requires additional research, have been discussed here.

Pesticide suicides: what more evidence is needed to ban highly hazardous pesticides?

Pesticide suicides: what more evidence is needed to ban highly hazardous pesticides?

Causes and management of pesticides contamination in agriculture: A review

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Green Synthesis of Chitosan Capped-Copper Nano Biocomposites: Synthesis, Characterization, and Biological Activity against Plant Pathogens

Metallic nanoparticles have been reported to have wide spread applications in the field of agricultural with a potential to enhance the activity natural substances to replace hazardous chemical fungicides and pesticides. Higher size to volume ratio, greater surface area, optimum efficacy, and immense precision are some of the benefits of employing nanotechnology in agricultural formulations. In this study, copper nano-biocomposites have been successfully synthesized using chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer and an organically available ascorbic acid. We report the appearance of the characteristic brick-brown color in aqueous solution that indicates the formation of copper nanoparticles. These particles were subjected to various physico-chemical characterizations using UV-Vis spectrophotometer, DLS, Zeta Potential, TEM, TGA, and FTIR to understand the morphology, chemical, and physical profiling. It was inferred that ascorbic acid acted as reducing agent while chitosan as capping agent to stabilize the colloidal copper nanoparticles of 20–120 nm size. In aqueous solution, the particles were observed to be monodispersed with minimum aggregation. The synthesized nanoparticles showed significant antifungal and antibacterial activity against common notorious agricultural plant pathogens, viz., Fusarium sp., Aspergillus sp., Alternaria alternata, Pythium sp., and Bacillus cereus, assayed using poisoned food method. The antimicrobial activity was showcased at a minimum concentration of 0.1–0.7% for different organisms. Furthermore, filed trial studies were performed on ginger (Zingiber officinale) plantations for a period of 8 weeks which substantiated with our lab results. These studies validated our claim of antifungal activity and simultaneously furnished us with toxicity results. The use of eco-friendly, nontoxic, biodegradable, and environmentally safe raw materials and the resultant nanoparticle solution ensure that the finished product does not induce any threat to the environment or human and shows maximum efficacy at minimum concentration.

Effects of developmental exposure to pesticides in wax and pollen on honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen reproductive phenotypes

Stressful conditions during development can have sub-lethal consequences on organisms aside from mortality. Using previously reported in-hive residues from commercial colonies, we examined how multi-pesticide exposure can influence honey bee (Apis mellifera) queen health. We reared queens in beeswax cups with or without a pesticide treatment within colonies exposed to treated or untreated pollen supplement. Following rearing, queens were open-mated and then placed into standard hive equipment in an “artificial swarm” to measure subsequent colony growth. Our treated wax had a pesticide Hazard Quotient comparable to the average in beeswax from commercial colonies, and it had no measurable effects on queen phenotype. Conversely, colonies exposed to pesticide-treated pollen had a reduced capacity for viable queen production, and among surviving queens from these colonies we observed lower sperm viability. We found no difference in queen mating number across treatments. Moreover, we measured lower brood viability in colonies later established by queens reared in treated-pollen colonies. Interestingly, royal jelly from colonies exposed to treated pollen contained negligible pesticide residues, suggesting the indirect social consequences of colony-level pesticide exposure on queen quality. These findings highlight how conditions during developmental can impact queens long into adulthood, and that colony-level pesticide exposure may do so indirectly.

Pesticide Toxicity Prevention in Farmer’s Community Movement

BACKGROUND: Pesticide toxicity is a serious problem in poor and developing countries agricultural communities, including Indonesia.&#x0D; AIM: This study aims to design an effort of pesticide toxicity prevention.&#x0D; METHODS: This is participation action research in look, think, and action cycle of pesticide use process as a qualitative study. The participants were taken by purposive technique and data collected with focus group discussion, in-depth interviews, self-report, and observation. Data were analyzed by thematic analysis. All participants are the commitment farmers that able to prevent and resolve the pesticide toxicity problem. This research has ethical clearance with number 1608/I/SP/2019.&#x0D; RESULTS: The results found that the determinant factor of pesticide toxicity is a high risk such as direct contact, unusually personal protection used, bad behavior such as spraying while smoking, blowing pump hoses directly, poor personal hygiene, pesticide storage, and disposal action. Several factors that influence are ignorance of farmers about the toxic effects that cause chronic toxicity. To prevent pesticide toxicity, we found the eight principles of pesticide use that formulated based on the epidemiology prevention approach that meets the level of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. It called Community Movement in Toxic Resolve or Gerakan Masyarakat Petani Atasi Racun (GEMPAR) arranged as an effort to prevent toxicity, including recognizing the hazard of pesticide, completely personal protection used, paying attention to the wind direction and spraying route, store pesticides in a safe place, safely dispose of pesticides, personal hygiene, record, and report toxicity symptom, and going to organic farming.&#x0D; CONCLUSION: The effort of pesticide toxicity could prevent in successful by a community movement called GEMPAR that divides into eight principles of prevention action in pesticide used.

Prevention of pesticide suicides and the right to life: The intersection of human rights and public health priorities

Suicide by pesticide ingestion is one of the three most common global means of suicide, causing over 150,000 deaths each year. The majority occur in rural agricultural communities, where pesticides are readily available to small-scale farmers and their families in poor under-resourced households. In addition to enormous individual, communal and societal suffering, as well as public health, economic, and developmental harm, human exposure to pesticides leads to serious human rights violations. This article focuses on the right to life, as the main right impacted by pesticide suicides while touching upon other human rights implications of pesticide self-harm. Our analysis shows that, by failing to restrict access to highly hazardous pesticides, states violate their obligations under international human rights law. States, businesses and civil society need to apply the human rights-based approach to preventing pesticide suicides and to develop a comprehensive plan to phase out or ban the most harmful pesticides.

The cost-effectiveness of banning highly hazardous pesticides to prevent suicides due to pesticide self-ingestion across 14 countries: an economic modelling study

SummaryBackgroundReducing suicides is a key Sustainable Development Goal target for improving global health. Highly hazardous pesticides are among the leading causes of death by suicide in low-income and middle-income countries. National bans of acutely toxic highly hazardous pesticides have led to substantial reductions in pesticide-attributable suicides across several countries. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of implementing national bans of highly hazardous pesticides to reduce the burden of pesticide suicides.MethodsA Markov model was developed to examine the costs and health effects of implementing a national ban of highly hazardous pesticides to prevent suicides due to pesticide self-poisoning, compared with a null comparator. We used WHO cost-effectiveness and strategic planning (WHO-CHOICE) methods to estimate pesticide-attributable suicide rates for 100 years from 2017. Country-specific costs were obtained from the WHO-CHOICE database and denominated in 2017 international dollars (I$), discounted at a 3% annual rate, and health effects were measured in healthy life-years gained (HLYGs). We used a demographic projection model beginning with the country population in the baseline year (2017), split by 1-year age group and sex. Country-specific data on overall suicide rates were obtained for 2017 by age and sex from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 Data Resources. The analysis involved 14 countries spanning low-income to high-income settings, and cost-effectiveness ratios were analysed at the country-specific level and aggregated according to country income group and the proportion of suicides due to pesticides.FindingsBanning highly hazardous pesticides across the 14 countries studied could result in about 28 000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 24 000–32 000) fewer suicide deaths each year at an annual cost of I$0·007 per capita (95% UI 0·006–0·008). In the population-standardised results for the base case analysis, national bans produced cost-effectiveness ratios of $94 per HLYG (95% UI 73–123) across low-income and lower-middle-income countries and $237 per HLYG (95% UI 191–303) across upper-middle-income and high-income countries. Bans were more cost-effective in countries where a high proportion of suicides are attributable to pesticide self-poisoning, reaching a cost-effectiveness ratio of $75 per HLYG (95% UI 58–99) in two countries with proportions of more than 30%.InterpretationNational bans of highly hazardous pesticides are a potentially cost-effective and affordable intervention for reducing suicide deaths in countries with a high burden of suicides attributable to pesticides. However, our study findings are limited by imperfect data and assumptions that could be improved upon by future studies.FundingWHO.

Methiocarb Degradation by Electro-Fenton: Ecotoxicological Evaluation.

This paper studies the degradation of methiocarb, a highly hazardous pesticide found in waters and wastewaters, through an electro-Fenton process, using a boron-doped diamond anode and a carbon felt cathode; and evaluates its potential to reduce toxicity towards the model organism Daphnia magna. The influence of applied current density and type and concentration of added iron source, Fe2(SO4)3·5H2O or FeCl3·6H2O, is assessed in the degradation experiments of methiocarb aqueous solutions. The experimental results show that electro-Fenton can be successfully used to degrade methiocarb and to reduce its high toxicity towards D. magna. Total methiocarb removal is achieved at the applied electric charge of 90 C, and a 450× reduction in the acute toxicity towards D. magna, on average, from approximately 900 toxic units to 2 toxic units, is observed at the end of the experiments. No significant differences are found between the two iron sources studied. At the lowest applied anodic current density, 12.5 A m−2, an increase in iron concentration led to lower methiocarb removal rates, but the opposite is found at the highest applied current densities. The highest organic carbon removal is obtained at the lowest applied current density and added iron concentration.

Drone as a Service (DaaS) in promoting cleaner agricultural production and Circular Economy for ethical Sustainable Supply Chain development

In order to grow the food the world needs, there is a pressing need to gain a more detailed understanding of how innovative solutions can be incorporated into the agricultural supply chains, particularly within production, for environmentally, economically, ethically and socially viable food production. Despite a number of innovative solutions available, many challenges in agricultural supply are still prevalent, with researchers to date largely focusing on these challenges in isolation, as opposed to exploring the relationships held between these challenges. Thus, supported by Circular Economy, Agriculture, Industry 4.0 literature and expert opinions, agricultural supply chain challenges are modelled and analysed using ISM methodology to help uncover 12 agricultural challenges which ultimately impede goods moving within the supply chain. Findings discovered that the Unproductive Workers and Pesticide Hazards are the key drivers of agricultural challenges. The ISM Hierarchical model elucidates research propositions and a parsimonious model for future research.