Abstract
All living organisms are dynamic systems, functioning as a result of interdependent (bio) chemical reactions that are permanently maintained in an equilibrium state. Human exposure over a period of time to a complex mixture of pollutants at low level and consumption of polluted water and/or foods, is likely to significantly contribute to the human health status. Considering the time of exposure to toxicants, we can distinguish two different types of toxicity: acute toxicity (observed soon after short-time exposure to the pollutant) and chronic toxicity (resulted after long-term and/or repeated periods of exposure to lower doses of the chemical). Most of the acute effects are temporary, but may also cause coma and/or death. The chronic health effects have a latency period, which corresponds to the period of time between the first exposure and the development of the disorder. Most of the time, pesticide use involves their deliberate release into the environment for repelling, attracting, preventing, or killing any pests (target organisms) and may affect other organisms from the environment because they have relatively limited selectivity. Living organisms as well as humans are concurrently exposed to pesticides via the environment, which induces combined toxicological effects. The degree of health hazard depends on the quantity of pesticide and on the length of exposure (the dose of the pollutant). In this paper are presented general aspects on toxicology and clinical toxicology in view of the relationship exposure to pesticides – effects on human health.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alcala LQ, Alkon AD, Boyce WT, Lippert S, Davis N, Bradman A, Barr D, Eskenazi B (2009) Maternal prenatal and child organophosphate pesticide exposures and childrens autonomic function. Neuro Toxicol 32:646–655
Bai I, Chen J, Yang Y, Guo L, Zhang C (2010) Degradation of organophosphorus pesticide induced by oxygen plasma. Chemosphere 81:408–414
Beard J (2006) DDT and human health. Sci Total Environ 355:78–89
Biliet H, Draghici C, Coman G (2004) Analytical biotechnology: principles and applications. Transilvania University Press, Brasov
Boobis AR, Ossendorp BC, Banasiak U, Hamey PY (2008) Cumulative risk assessment of pesticide residues in food. Toxicol Lett 180:137–150
Carozza SE, Li B, Wang Q, Horel S, Cooper S (2009) Agricultural pesticides and risk of childhood cancers. Int J Hyg Health 212:186–195
Carrillo ML, Amato D, Wegman P, Horta CG, Corona Y, Sanin LH (2004) Relation between pesticide exposure and intrauterine growth retardation. Chemosphere 55:1421–1427
Chen K, Mackie JC, Kennedy EM, Dlugogorski BZ (2012) Determination of toxic products released in combustion of pesticides. Progr Energy Combust Sci 38:1–19
Coman G, Draghici C (2004) Pollutants and their impact on human body. Transilvania University Press, Brasov
Coman G, Draghici C, Chirila E, Sica M (2006) Pollutants effects on human body. In: Simeonov L, Chirila E (eds) Chemical as intentional and accidental global environmental threats. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 255–266
Coman G, Draghici C, Vrabie C (2008) Accumulatin and transformation processes of pollutants in soil. In: Simeonov L, Sargsyan V (eds) Soil chemical pollution, risk assessment, remediatin and security. Springer Science, Dordrecht, pp 349–357
Costa LG (2006) Current issues in organophosphate toxicity. Clin Chim Acta 366:1–13
Dufol AF, Guillen SM (2009) Toxicogenomics and clinical toxicology. Toxicol Lett 186:2–8
Franco R, Li S, Rodriguez H, Burns M, Panayiotidis M (2010) Molecular mechanisms of pesticide neurotoxicity. Chem Biol Interact 188:289–300
Garg UK, Pal AK, Jha GJ, Jadhao SB (2004) Haemato-biochemical and immuno-pathophysiological effects of chronic toxicity with synthetic pyrethroid, organophosphate and chlorinated pesticides. Int Immunopharmacol 4:1709–1722
Garry VF (2004) Pesticides and children. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 198:152–163
Hernandez AF, Parron T, Tsatsakis AM, Requena M, Alarcon R (2012) Toxic effects of pesticides mixtures at a molecular level. Toxicology (in press)
Hillocks RJ (2012) Farming with fewer pesticides. Crop Prot 31:85–93
Kanthasamy AG, Kitazava M, Kanthasamy A, Anantharam V (2005) Dieldrin-induced neurotoxicity. Neurotoxicology 26:701–719
Kiss A, Virag D (2009) Interpretation and modeling of environmental behaviour of diverse pesticides by revealing photodecomposition mechanisms. Microchem J 92:119–122
Klaassen CD (2001) Toxicology. The basic science of poisons. McGraw-Hill Professional, New York
Landau M, Rabia N, Pelage J, Marquet L (2009) Why pesticides could be a common cause of prostate and breast cancers in the French Caribbean Island. Biomed Pharmacother 63:383–395
Mansour SA (2004) Pesticide exposure. Toxicology 198:91–115
McKinlay R, Plant JA, Bell JNB, Voulvoulis N (2008) Calculating human exposure to endocrine disruption pesticides via agricultural and non-agricultural exposure routes. Sci Total Environ 398:1–12
Moretto A, Colosio C (2011) Biochemical and toxicological evidence of neurological effects of pesticides. Neurotoxicology 32:383–391
Ostrea EM, Bielwski DM, Posecion NC, Corrion M (2009) Combined analysis of prenatal and neonatal matrices to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides. Environ Res 109:116–122
Rahimi R, Abdollahi M (2007) A rewiew on the mechanisms involved in hyperglycemia induced by organophosphorus pesticides. Pesticide Biochem Physiol 88:115–121
Rattan RS (2010) Mechanism of action of insecticidal secondary metabolites of plant origin. Crop Prot 29:913–920
Reffstrup TK, Larsen JC, Meyer O (2010) Risk assessment of mixtures of pesticides. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 56:174–192
Slotkin TA (2004) Guidelines for developmental neurotoxicity and their impact on Organophosphate pesticides. Neurotoxicology 25:631–640
Stamati PN, Hens L, Howard CV (2007) Congenital diseases and the environment. Springer, Dordrecht
World Health Organisation (2004) Neuroscience of psychoactive substance use and dependence. World Health Organisation, Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Farcas, A., Matei, A.V., Florian, C., Badea, M., Coman, G. (2013). Health Effects Associated with Acute and Chronic Exposure to Pesticides. In: Simeonov, L., Macaev, F., Simeonova, B. (eds) Environmental Security Assessment and Management of Obsolete Pesticides in Southeast Europe. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6461-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6461-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6460-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6461-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)