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Health Concerns of Pesticides

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Book cover Pesticide Residue in Foods

Abstract

Pesticides are widely used in agricultural production to prevent and control pests, diseases, weeds, and other plant pathogens to eliminate the damage of crop and to maintain high product quality. However, the effects of pesticides and pesticide residues could be non-selective to pests and other living organisms, and improper use of pesticides may detrimental to human health. It is reported that intentional or unintentional exposure to pesticides and pesticides residue possess serious cancer risk. Exposure to pesticides may also cause skin diseases, visual disturbance, chronic deterioration in neurologic function, paralysis, reproductive effects, and neurologic effects. The health effects of pesticides vary according to exposure time, individual health condition, and the chemical toxicity of pesticides. This article reviews the health effects of different types of pesticides, modes of exposure to pesticides and pesticide residues, and possible detrimental effects of pesticides on human health. This article also elucidate few important approaches that can be implied in preventing the irrational use of pesticides, thus it is important to use these more selectively to make these environment friendly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Mrittika Debnath

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Mohidus Samad Khan

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  1. Mrittika Debnath
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  2. Mohidus Samad Khan
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Correspondence to Mohidus Samad Khan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Mohidus Samad Khan

  2. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Sultan Qaboos University College of Agricultural Marine Sciences, Muscat, Oman

    Mohammad Shafiur Rahman

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Debnath, M., Khan, M.S. (2017). Health Concerns of Pesticides. In: Khan, M., Rahman, M. (eds) Pesticide Residue in Foods. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52683-6_6

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