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Home Books CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 5e

34: Pesticides

Michael A. O'Malley

INTRODUCTION

Pesticides include chemicals as well as biological and physical agents used to control a diverse array of pests. In the United States, currently registered pesticides include 1023 active ingredients formulated into 13,400 separate products including adjuvants and antimicrobial compounds. The long list of agents can best be understood by grouping them to target pest or use categories and further subdividing them by chemical structure (Table 34–1). In the United States, pesticide use is about 1.1 billion pounds per year, and estimates run as high as 5.2 billion pounds used worldwide. These estimates do not include antimicrobial agents, which can account for as much as half of all pesticides used, bringing US consumption alone to more than 2 billion pounds annually.

Table 34–1.Pesticide use categories, ingredients, and chemical structure.
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Table 34–1. Pesticide use categories, ingredients, and chemical structure.
Use Category # of Active Ingredients Structural Categories
Adjuvant 223 Inorganic water modifiers, organic polymer, fatty acids, methylene bismorpholin derivative, polysiloxane, protein, acrylamide polymer
Animal repellent 15 Plant oil extracts, isothiocyanates, mercaptans, ammonium derivatives, coyote & fox urine granules, ketones, ­piperidine, egg proteins
Antimicrobial 179 Alcohol, isothiazolinone (Kathon) compounds, thiocarbamate salts, phenols, quaternary ammonium, aldehydes, ­carboxylic acid, chlorine, chlorine releasers, biological preparations, calcium salts, epoxides, copper compounds, iodines, hydantoin compouds, peroxides, silver compounds, bromide salts, silicates, morpholine derivatives, ­organotin compounds, chelating agents, bacteriophages,
Avicide 3 Pyrimidinol, chlorotoluidine, aminopyridine
Bird repellent 1 Anthranilate
Fumigant 11 Halonitromethane, low-molecular-weight halogenated hydrocarbons, phosphine, phosphine releasers, MITC releasers
Fungicide 132 Carbamate, phthalimido compounds, thiocarbamate, biological agents
Herbicide 157 Triazines, thiocarbamates, bipiridyls, pyridinecarboxylic acids, acetanilides, amides, ammonium salts, urea compounds, thiocarbamates, arsenic compounds, sulfonamide, biological, boron, phenoxy compounds, cyclohexanediones, ­dimethoxypyrimidines, dinitroanilines, imidazolinones
Hive protectant 1 Potassium fatty acid
Inert ingredients 1 Dusts, organic materials, organic solvents
Insect attractant 7 Sugars, eugenol, fatty acid, pyrrole, quaternary ammonium, fatty alcohol
Insect growth ­regulator 7 Methoprene analogues
Insect pheromone 5 Fatty acid esters
Insect repellent 28 Toluamide derivatives, biological oils
Insecticide 197 Organophosphate, carbamates, pyrethrins/pyrethroids, biological, pyrethroids
Insecticide, fungicide 1 Phenyl acrolein, borate
Insecticide, miticide, fungicide 1 Biological
Molluscicide 3 Aldehydes
Nematicide 5 Biological, phosphonothionate
Piscicide 1 Rotenone
Plant growth regulator 30 Triazol, acetamide, alkyl ammonium, vinylglycine, fatty acid, fluorene derivative, furan derivative, hexadione, ­hydrazide, indole derivative, inorganic cyanamide, phenylamine, phenylurea, phosphonic acid, piperidinium, ­pyrimidine, low-molecular-weight unsaturated organic compound, naphthalene derivative
Rodenticide 13 Warfarin derivative, phosphide salt, biological alkaloid, cyanide salt, vitamin D derivative
Synergist 1 Dicarboximide
Verterbrate control 1 Inorganic nitrate salt

REGULATION

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the registration, sale, and conditions of use of all pesticides and is responsible for the protection of agricultural workers exposed to pesticides. Prior to enactment of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in 1970, there was little regulation and testing of pesticides in the United States. Since then, the EPA has applied ...

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