As early as 1950, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced that the potential health hazards of compounds containing chlorinated hydrocarbons such as dischloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) had been underestimated.
The Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, passed in 1972 and amended in 1975, requires that all pesticide products sold or distributed in this country must be registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, passed in 1972 and amended in 1975, requires that all pesticide products sold or distributed in this country must be registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Substances used to kill weeds, rats, mice, worms, fungi, and insects are called pesticides. Soil Pollution can occur as a result of excessive or improper use of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides) or crop fertilizers. Many of the chemicals used in these preparations are highly toxic and can remain in the soil for long periods of time without being degraded, thus setting the stage for pollution of food, water, and ultimately people.
Although farmers are the largest users of pesticides, they are also used by industry, by federal, state, and local governmental agencies, and by individual people in their homes and gardens. Actual toxic effects of the different compounds vary, and some of the effects occur before the chemicals reach the soil. Vertebrates will not usually suffer acute poisoning from these substances except through accidental ingestion, direct skin contact, or inhalation of the dust or spray of the more toxic pesticides.
Workers in pesticide manufacturing plants, agricultural workers, and commercial pest-control operators applying the chemicals to crops or soil can all inhale pesticide dust or spray. At times, inhalation exposure can occur in a subtle manner, for example, by inhaling the dust from storage bags during the filling and emptying process or from cultivated soil previously treated with pesticides. Symptoms occurring as a result oof such exposure may not be attributed to the pesticides. Therefore, many episodes of acute poisoning go undiagnosed. Direct skin contact can occur when solutions are spilled accidentally or when the moist spray touches exposed skin. An occupational history aids early diagnosis of such problems.
Workers in pesticide manufacturing plants, agricultural workers, and commercial pest-control operators applying the chemicals to crops or soil can all inhale pesticide dust or spray. At times, inhalation exposure can occur in a subtle manner, for example, by inhaling the dust from storage bags during the filling and emptying process or from cultivated soil previously treated with pesticides. Symptoms occurring as a result oof such exposure may not be attributed to the pesticides. Therefore, many episodes of acute poisoning go undiagnosed. Direct skin contact can occur when solutions are spilled accidentally or when the moist spray touches exposed skin. An occupational history aids early diagnosis of such problems.
References :
Linton, Ron, Terracide. Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1970.
Unites States Environmental Protection Agency, What You Should Know about the Pesticide Law. Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Affairs, December, 1976.
Long, Keith, “Pesticides : An Occupational Hazard on Farms”, American Journal of Nursing, 1971.
Brubaker, Sterling, To Live on Earth. New York : New American Library, 1972.
Murray, RB and Zentner JP., Nursing Concepts for Health Promotion, Second Edtion, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, 1979.
