Title: Environmental impact of pesticides - Wikipedia
Headings: Environmental impact of pesticides
Environmental impact of pesticides
Contents
Agriculture and the environment
History
Specific pesticide effects
Pesticide environmental effects
Air
Water
United States regulations
United Kingdom regulations
European Union regulations
Soil
Effect on plants
Effect on animals
Birds
Aquatic life
Amphibians
Humans
Persistent organic pollutants
Pest resistance
Pest rebound and secondary pest outbreaks
Prevalence
Eliminating pesticides
See also
References
External links

Content: Newer pesticides aim at efficiency in target and minimum side effects in nontarget organisms. The phylogenetic proximity of beneficial and pest species complicates the project. One of the major challenges is to link the results from cellular studies through many levels of increasing complexity to ecosystems. The concept (borrowed from nuclear physics) of a half-life has been utilized for pesticides in plants, and certain authors maintain that pesticide risk and impact assessment models rely on and are sensitive to information describing dissipation from plants. Half-life for pesticides is explained in two NPIC fact sheets. Known degradation pathways are through: photolysis, chemical dissociation, sorption, bioaccumulation and plant or animal metabolism. A USDA fact sheet published in 1994 lists the soil adsorption coefficient and soil half-life for then-commonly used pesticides. Specific pesticide effects
Pesticide environmental effects
Pesticide/class
Effect (s)
Organochlorine DDT / DDE
Endocrine disruptor

Thyroid disruption properties in rodents, birds, amphibians and fish

Acute mortality attributed to inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity
DDT
Egg shell thinning in raptorial birds

Carcinogen

Endocrine disruptor
DDT/ Diclofol, Dieldrin and Toxaphene
Juvenile population decline and adult mortality in wildlife reptiles
DDT/Toxaphene/ Parathion
Susceptibility to fungal infection
Triazine
Earthworms became infected with monocystid gregarines
Chlordane
Interact with vertebrate immune systems
Carbamates, the phenoxy herbicide 2,4-D, and atrazine
Interact with vertebrate immune systems
Anticholinesterase
Bird poisoning

Animal infections, disease outbreaks and higher mortality. Organophosphate
Thyroid disruption properties in rodents, birds, amphibians and fish

Acute mortality attributed to inhibition of acetylcholine esterase activity

Immunotoxicity, primarily caused by the inhibition of serine hydrolases or esterases

Oxidative damage

Modulation of signal transduction pathways

Impaired metabolic functions such as thermoregulation, water and/or food intake and behavior, impaired development, reduced reproduction and hatching success in vertebrates.