PESTICIDES IN THE MODERN WORLD – EFFECTS OF PESTICIDES EXPOSURE Edited by Margarita Stoytcheva Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure Edited by Margarita Stoytcheva Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Sandra Bakic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer Jan Hyrat Image Copyright 2010. Used under license from Shutterstock.com First published September, 2011 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure, Edited by Margarita Stoytcheva p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-454-2 free online editions of InTech Books and Journals can be found at www.intechopen.com Contents Preface IX Part 1 Pesticides Exposure 1 Chapter 1 Chronic Exposure to Pesticides- Neurological, Neurobehavioral and Molecular Targets of Neurotoxicity 3 Binukumar B.K and Kiran Dip Gill Chapter 2 Dermal Exposure to Sub-Toxic Amount of Chlorpyrifos - Is It Neurotoxic? 21 Nilesh Kumar Mitra Chapter 3 Effect on Workers’ Health Owing to Pesticides Exposure: Endocrine Target 33 Lidia Caporossi and Bruno Papaleo Chapter 4 Health Problem Caused by Long-Term Organophosphorus Pesticides Exposure - Study in China 59 Zhi-Jun Zhou Chapter 5 Pesticide Exposure of Farmworkers’ Children 79 Paloma I. Beamer Chapter 6 Migrant Farm Workers Exposed to Pesticides in Sinaloa, Mexico 101 Anthon Alvarez A. and Alba D. Campaña S. Chapter 7 Work Practices, Exposure Assessment and Geographical Analysis of Pesticide Applicators in Argentina 115 María Josefina Lantieri, Mariana Butinof, Ricardo Fernández, María Inés Stimolo, Marcelo Blanco and María del Pilar Díaz Chapter 8 Separation of Chiral Pyrethroid Pesticides and Application in Pharmacokinetics Research and Human Exposure Assessment 139 Yongning Wu, Hong Miao and Sai Fan VI Contents Chapter 9 Biomonitoring of Contemporary Pesticides: Ethylenethiourea in Occupational Settings 167 M. Angela Montesano and Richard Wang Chapter 10 Pesticide Residues in the Organically Produced Food 181 Ewa Rembiałkowska and Maciej Badowski Part 2 Pesticides and Human Health 203 Chapter 11 Pesticides and Human Health 205 Khaled A. Osman Chapter 12 Pesticides and Human Health 231 Alewu B. and Nosiri C. Chapter 13 A Forensic View of Pesticide Poisonings in Brazil 251 Bruno Sabino, Hannah Rozenbaum and Adriana Oliveira Chapter 14 Characteristics and Trends with Respect to Unintentional Pesticide Poisoning Mortality and Hospitalization in Taiwan, 1999-2008 279 Wu-Chien Chien, Ching-Huang Lai, Jouni J.K. Jaakkola, Lu Pai, Senyeong Kao, Jin-Ding Lin and Yu-Chen Hung Chapter 15 Pathology of Endosulfan 289 Ozlem Ozmen Chapter 16 Pesticides and Parkinson’s Disease 307 Arthur G. Fitzmaurice and Jeff M. Bronstein Chapter 17 Dithiocarbamate Toxicity - An Appraisal 323 Narayan C. Rath, Komal S. Rasaputra, Rohana Liyanage, Gerry R. Huff and William E. Huff Chapter 18 Progress in Antidotes (Acetylcholinesterase Reactivators) Against Organophosphorus Pesticides 341 Kamil Musilek, Ondrej Holas, Anna Horova, Miroslav Pohanka, Jana Zdarova-Karasova, Daniel Jun and Kamil Kuca Chapter 19 Laboratory Tests with Androgenic and Anti-Androgenic Pesticides – Comparative Studies on Endocrine Modulation in the Reproductive System of Invertebrates and Vertebrates 359 Watermann, B.T., Gnass, K., Kolodzey, H. and Thomsen, A.E. Preface The introduction of the synthetic organochlorine, organophosphate, carbamate and pyrethroid pesticides by1950's marked the beginning of the modern pesticides era and a new stage in the agriculture development. Evolved from the chemicals designed originally as warfare agents, the synthetic pesticides demonstrated a high effectiveness in preventing, destroying or controlling any pest. Therefore, their application in the agriculture practices made it possible enhancing crops and livestock’s yields and obtaining higher-quality products, to satisfy the food demand of the continuously rising world’s population. Nevertheless, the increase of the pesticide use estimated to 2.5 million tons annually worldwide since 1950., created a number of public and environment concerns. This book, organized in two sections, comments on the major aspects of the pesticides risk, integrating pesticides exposure and pesticides health effects. Chapter 1 covers the background information and the epidemiological evidence on the long-term pesticides exposure, commenting on the genetic susceptibility to pesticide toxicity, on the developmental toxicity and neurotoxicity, and on the neurobehavioral impairments provoked by pesticides exposure. Chapter 2 explains how dermal exposure to sub-toxic amount of chlorpyrifos is connected to neurotoxicity. Most occupational exposures are dermal. The authors conclude that high dosage of chlorpyrifos can result in significant neurotoxicity, while low dosage produces a reduced level of neurotoxicity. Chapter 3 inventories the typical sources and routes of occupational pesticides exposure, focusing on the ability of pesticides to interfere with the endocrine system and to cause adverse effects, and discussing the approaches to be applied for prevention and protection. The effects of long-term low-level exposure to organophosphorus pesticides in both general and occupational population in China, exposure assessment, and studies on the mechanism of the organophosphorus pesticides action are considered in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 reviews the exposure pathways and the neurodevelopment injuries in children of farm workers in U. S., associated with chronic pesticides exposure. X Preface Effective interventions conducting to increasing of the farm workers self-protective behaviours and perception of control are discussed, too. The alteration of the erythrocyte cholinesterase activity, and the affection of the process of hemostasis in migrants workers exposed to the action of organophosphorus pesticides in the Mexican state Sinaloa is the objective of the investigations, presented in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 addresses the work practices of the pesticide applicators in Cordoba province, Argentina. Exposure indexes and scales proposed in this work are helpful tools for the assessment of occupational risks related to pesticide exposure. In Chapter 8 are discussed the various methods of chiral separation of synthetic pyrethroids. It has been demonstrated that chiral isomers exhibit different biological activities and toxicities, and thereby the residues and metabolisms in the environment and biological organisms also vary. Chapter 9 illustrates the importance of biological monitoring in the assessment of human occupational exposure to pesticides, facing in particular the exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamates. It comments on the main factors in biomonitoring such as sampling methods, analytical determination, and interpretation of the results. Chapter 10 presents numerous evidences confirming that the presence of pesticide residues in organic food is lower than in conventional products. Thus, the risks associated to pesticides exposure are reduced. The main topics discussed in Chapters 11 and 12 include hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment and risk characterization associated with pesticides exposure and human health. The forensic aspects of pesticides poisoning in Brazil, and the forensic analytical chemistry of pesticides are commented in Chapter 13. Chapter 14 is intended to examine the characteristics and trends of unintentional pesticide poisoning mortality and hospitalization in Taiwan. Taking into consideration that currently no authority in Taiwan is in charge of pesticide poison surveillance, the present work is the most complete nationwide population-based study conducted to assess the risk of pesticide poisoning. Chapters 15 and 16 provide pathological findings on endosulfan toxicity to human and animals, and epidemiologic evidences strengthening the hypothesis that exposure to pesticides could increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The objective of Chapter 17 is to review and to highlight some of the recent findings on the effects of dialkyl dithhiocarbamates and ethylene-bis-dithiocarbamates pointing out on studies of the avian system, which has not been a focus of earlier literature. It is [...]... 1997) Although OPs are increasingly restricted for use in the US (EPA, 2002), many of the pesticides that are no longer available in the US and other developed countries are still being produced and used in agricultural or urban applications in developing countries 4 Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure The mechanism of action of pesticides frequently involves a neurotoxic... CVP, unlike those of oxotremorine, a direct stimulant of cholinergic muscarinic receptors, did not induce overt changes in the animal (rabbit) behaviour and EEG This would indicate that the changes in the CNS functions after CVP exposure may be the 8 Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure consequence of increased cholinergic activity due to AChE inhibition rather than to a direct... committee of the International 24 Pesticides in the Modern World Effects of Pesticides Exposure Medical University and in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki The mice were divided into 3 groups (n = 6) The experiment was conducted in two phases (one with period of experiment for 7 days and another with period of experiment for 3 weeks) Application of CPF on the tail skin of albino mice was done in. .. to each other on the long arm of chromosome (Primo-Parmo ,1996) (7q21.3-q22.1)7 PON1 and PON3 are expressed in the liver and excreted in the blood where they are associated with the high-density lipoprotein 12 Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure (HDL) particle (Reddy, 2001) PON2 is not present in blood, but is expressed widely in a number of tissues, including the liver,... compilation of works, addressing the various aspects of the pesticides exposure and the related health effects It offers a large amount of practical information to the professionals interested in pesticides issues The commitment of each of the contributing authors with the present project is gratefully acknowledged Margarita Stoytcheva Mexicali, Baja California Mexico XI Part 1 Pesticides Exposure 1... Quistad 2004; Landrigan 2001; Slotkin 2004), these compounds nevertheless still comprise 50% of all insecticide use worldwide, and exposure of the human population continues to be nearly ubiquitous (Casida and Quistad 2004) Originally, it was thought that the adverse effects on brain development reflected the same 10 Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure basic mechanism that underlies... valid outcome measures in prospective study designs 14 Pesticides in the Modern World – Effects of Pesticides Exposure PON1 status plays an important role in protecting against exposures to diazinon and chlorpyrifos, particularly to the oxon residues present in these exposures The most important conclusion to come from studies is that to understand the role that PON1 plays in an individual’s sensitivity... was trimmed off by making coronal section between the optic chiasma and the infundibulum The portion of the brain was then divided into left and right lobes by a single saggital slice This allowed the same mouse brain to be stained by two different stains The brain tissues were processed and embedded in paraffin The left half sections (8 micron) were stained with 0.2% thionin (Nissl stain) and used... loading of spray tanks and application of the pesticides Acute exposure to CPF by dermal, oral and inhalation route was moderately toxic and US Environmental Protection Agency categorized it as a class II toxin (Eisler, 2000) All OP insecticides act by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and thereby increase the levels of acetylcholine in the synapses Excessive stimulation of the cholinergic... families handling, mixing, and spraying the OP pesticides Among all the neurologic self-reported symptoms, headache, watering in eyes, and burning sensation in eye/face were the most important clinical manifestations attributed to OP pesticide exposure These symptoms could probably be the consequence of chronic effects of most pesticides on the central nervous system The high frequency of neurologic . 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