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WHS APES UNIT 5 PESTICIDES AND TOXICOLOGY

Terms in this set (78)

Pesticides
A substance that is either natural or synthetic, that will kill or control organisms that people consider pests.
Insecticides
They target species of insects and other invertebrates that consume crops.
Herbicides
They target plant species that compete with crops.
fungicides
Type of pesticide that is used to kill fungus.
Piscicides
Poison developed by many cultures to kill fish.
Nematocides
A substance used to kill nematodes (roundworm).
Rodenticides
Type of pesticide used to kills rats or mice.
First generation pesticide
Natural chemical pesticides obtained from plants that had been defending themselves against insects eating them and herbivores grazing on them. Used by humans since the 1600s (e.g. nicotine sulfate from tobacco plants).
Second generation pesticide
A synthetic pesticide.
Broad spectrum pesticide
Chemical pesticides that kill many different kinds of pests, both the target pests and the nontarget pests (beneficial ones).
Selective or narrow spectrum pesticide
Toxic to specific group of pests only. Example: soap is a selective pesticide because it will kill (through dessication) only soft-bodied insects leaving those with hard shells (carapace) like ladybugs alone.
Carbamates
They are broad-spectrum insecticides and are not as toxic as organophosphates to humans though they do show broad, non-target toxicity. Sevin dust is an example.
Organophosphates
Are "nerve poisons" or "nerve agents" that are the most toxic of known chemical agents.
Chlorinated hydrocarbons
DDT is an example: synthetic organic hydrocarbon molecules in which chlorine atoms are attached -- they inhibit nerve membrane ion transport and block nerve signals; fast acting and highly toxic; they may persist in soil for decades, become concentrated through food chains and are stored in fatty tissues in many organisms.
Genetic resistance
The development of immunity to pesticides through natural selection.
DDT
An insecticide (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) that caused damage to marine bird populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Its use is now banned throughout most of the world.
Pesticide treadmill
A process in which farmers must constantly try newer and more toxic chemicals in order to stay ahead of pests that are forming a resistance to pesticides through natural selection.
Half-life
The time required for half of a sample to decompose into a new substance.
Pheromones
A class of chemicals secreted by animals that stimulate certain behaviors in other members of the species.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
An independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
LD-50
Median Lethal Dose. The amount of a chemical that kills 50% of the subjects in a test population.
ED-50
Effective dose that causes effect in 50% of the test population on exposure to a particular toxicant.
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1972 (FIFRA)
Requires pesticide registration, modified by the Food Quality Protection Act.
Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA)
(amended both FIFRA and FFDCA) -Requires new tougher standards for pesticide tolerance levels in foods based on a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health through dietary exposure and drinking water.
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)
Establishes the tolerances of pesticides for food and feed products. The FDA is responsible for administering this Act.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The agency that is responsible for determining if a food or drug is safe and effective enough to be sold to the public.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
For commercial chemicals, EPA has authority to identify, evaluate and regulate risks asociated with the full life cycle. Standard = "unreasonable risk of injury to health or environment."
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
Intends to standardize regulation among the participating countries and to encourage research and development of safe products.
Biological pest control
Control of pest populations by natural predators, parasites, or disease-causing bacteria and viruses (pathogens).
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
A combination of pest control methods that, if used in the proper order and at the proper times, keep the size of a pest population low enough that it does not cause substantial economic loss.
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations agency to coordinate international health activities and to help governments improve health services.
Economic threshold
In pest management, the point at which the cost of pest damage exceeds the cost of pest control.
Risk analysis
Systematic use of information to identify sources and to estimate the risk.
Risk Assessment
An analytical study of the probabilities and magnitude of harm to human health or the environment associated with a physical or chemical agent, activity, or occurrence.
Risk Management
A strategy developed to reduce or control the chance of harm or loss to one's health or life; the process of identifying, evaluating, selecting and implementing actions to reduce risk to human health and to ecosystems.
Cultural hazard
Hazard such as smoking, unsafe working conditions, poor diet, drugs, drinking, driving, criminal assaults, unsafe sex, and poverty.
Chemical hazard
Include pesticides, food additives, preservatives, cleaning supplies, and toxic metals that leach from cookware and equipment.
Physical hazard
Anything that poses a risk and can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled e.g. weak tree limbs, worn-out brakes.
Biological hazard
Germs transmitted through contact with other living things like a virus, bacteria, or fungi.
Toxicity
Adverse drug reaction caused by excessive dosing.
Antagonistic interaction
The effect of one medicine is canceled or reduced when taken with another medicine.
Synergistic interaction
Interaction of two or more factors or processes so that the combined effect is greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Response
An action or change in behavior that occurs in reaction to a stimulus.
Persistence
How long a pollutant stays in the air, water, soil, or body.
Bioaccumulation
An increased concentration of a chemical within an organism over time.
Biomagnification
The accumulation or increase in concentration of a substance in living tissue as it moves through a food web.
Acute effect
The effect caused by a short exposure to a high level of toxin.
Chronic effect
An effect that results from long-term exposure to low levels of toxin.
PCB's
Polychlorinated Biphenyl. Synthetic chemicals containing chlorine that are used in the manufacture of plastics and other industrial products, become stored in the tissue of animals, and also persist in the environment.
Threshold level
The dose above which adverse effects are produced.
Epidemiological studies
A study that involves large-scale comparisons amoung groups of people, ussually contrasting a group known to have been exposed to some toxicant and a group that has not.
Experimental group
A subject or group of subjects in an experiment that is exposed to the factor or condition being tested.
Control group
In an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.
Dose response curves
Graphical representation of observed effect of the drug as a function of its concentration in a receptor compartment.
Hazardous chemicals
Cause harm by being flammable or explosive, irritating or damaging the skin or lungs(strong acidic or alkaline substances such as oven cleaners), interfering with or preventing oxygen uptake and distribution, or inducing allergic reactions of the immune system.
Mutagens
A chemical or physical agent that interacts with DNA and causes a mutation.
Teratogens
Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Carcinogens
Cancer-causing agents.
Precautionary principle
When there is some scientific uncertainty about potentially serious harm from chemicals or technologies, decision makers should act to prevent harm to humans and the environment.
Innocent-until-proven-guilty principle
Principle based on the philosophy that a potential hazard should not be considered an actual hazard until the scientific data definitively demonstrates that it actually causes harm. It allows the product to go into the marketplace and sell it until it has been harmful (USA).
Transmissible disease
Is an infectious disease caused by living organisms that can be transmitted from one person to another. ex: flu, HIV, tuberculosis, and measles.
Nontransmissible disease
Disease that is not caused by living organisms and does not spread from one person to another. Examples are most cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and malnutrition.
Hepatitis B
A viral infection that is easily transmitted through contact with infected blood, body fluids (sexually transmitted) and contaminated needles and can cause inflammation of the liver (jaundice).
HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus. A virus that weakens the body's immune system, leading to life-threatening infections; causes AIDS. Can be transmitted by sexual contact, blood-blood contact, and mother to child.
Pathogen
A disease causing agent.
Malaria
A tropical disease caused by mosquitoes implanting parasites in the blood and characterized by chills, fever, and sweating. Caused by poor water quality.
Kills more than 2 million people annually.
Ebola
A highly lethal virus that causes massive internal hemorrhaging. It is thought that the virus originated in central Africa and was passed to humans from primates.
Influenza
A viral infection causing inflammation of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract.
Tuberculosis
A bacterial disease that usually affects the lungs and is airborne.
Kills 1.7 million people per year (CDC).
Recent increases are due to a lack of screening and control programs in developing companies and genetic resistance to most effective antibiotics.
Biopesticides
Botanicals, Micro-botanicals
Chemical Pesticides
Organophosphates, Carbamates, Organochloride, Pyrethroid
Endocrine disrupters
chemicals that interfere with the normal functioning of hormones in an animals body
Neurotoxins
chemicals that disrupt the nervous system of animals (DDT)
Acute studies
(short duration)
- LD50
- ED50
Chronic studies
(long term) - Epidemiological Studies
- Retrospective
- Prospective
LD50 (Median Lethal Dose)
The amount of chemical it will take, in one dose, to kill half of all the target organisms
ED50 (Median Effective Dose)
The amount of chemical it will take, in one dose, to affect half of all the target organisms. Called a sublethal dose
Flu, Hep B, HIV
Viruses that infect and kill many more people each year than the highly publicized West Nile, Ebola and SARS viruses.
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