Effects of Soil Pollution
Recent reports from epidemiological studies being conducted in Iowa and California indicate that a variety of acute illnesses and physiological changes have been observed in farmers after handling agricultural chemicals.
Recent reports from epidemiological studies being conducted in Iowa and California indicate that a variety of acute illnesses and physiological changes have been observed in farmers after handling agricultural chemicals.
Such effects on the central nervous system as forgelfulness, decreased attention and interest span, hyperirritability, anxiety, depression, nervousness, and insomnia have been reported. Skin diseases, eye and respiratory conditions, and digestive disorders have also been identified. In some instances, these problems occurred after a single exposure to a toxic chemical.
Pesticides have an immediate toxic effect on birds, bees, and rodents, thus curtailing the necessary natural agents of cross-pollination and insect destruction, which in turn can effect food supply. Surface water may be contaminated during spraying or dusting; or rain may wash pesticides or fertilizers into streams and lakes, again affecting food supply.
Edwards shows that earthworms are capable of concentrating toxic chemicals from the soil and storing these chemicals in their fatty tissues. Since earthworms provide food for other animals that are also capable of concentrating these chemicals, they may prove to be an important source of undesirable chemical residues in higher animals and humans.
The effects on man of long-term exposure to pesticides by inhalation or by ingestion of food and water containing residual chemicals are unknown. However, lower activity values of serum lactic dehydrogenase (an enzyme present in large amounts in liver tissue), inhibited cholinesterase activity, and altered hemoglobin, hematocrit, and amino acid levels have been shawn to exist in people occupationally exposed to pesticides. Experimentally, small does of pesticides have caused such metabolic changes as lowered estrogen levels, altered glucose metabolism, and inhibition of adenosine triphosphatase (ATP) in a wide variety of vertebrates, including man. In addition, potent herbicides, substances used to kill weeds or plants, such as 2, 4, 5-T, have produced spontaneous abortions, birth defects, and skeletal and tissue changes after birth in animals and humans.
Much of the present pesticide problem is directly related to misuse. The Environmental Protection Agency has set limits on the amount of allowable pesticide residue in food crops. It has canceled the production or certain products and has set up studies to determine if there is a buildup of pesticide residues in human body tissue after prolonged exposure.
References :
Unites States Environmental Protection Agency, Noise and Wheels, Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Affairs, February, 1977.
Edwards, Clive, “Soil Pollutants and Soil Animals”, Scientific American, 1969.
Peakall, David, “Pesticides and the Reproduction of Birds”, Scientific American, 1970.
Saltonstall, Richard, Your Environment and What You Can Do About It : A Citizen`s Guide. New York : Walker and Company, 1970.
Division of Pesticide Community Studies, Pesticides. Chamlee, Ga.: Environmental Protection Agency, Pesticides Office, March 1977.
Unites States Environmental Protection Agency, What You Should Know about the Pesticide Law. Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Affairs, December, 1976.
Murray, RB and Zentner JP., Nursing Concepts for Health Promotion, Second Edtion, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, 1979.
