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The case for fundamental change in agriculture
Published in Stephen R. Gliessman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Victor M. Izzo, Eric W. Engles, Andrew Gerlicz, Agroecology, 2023
Stephen R. Gliessman, V. Ernesto Méndez, Victor M. Izzo, Eric W. Engles, Andrew Gerlicz
After World War II, chemical pesticides were widely touted as the new, scientific weapon in humankind’s war against plant pests and pathogens. These chemical agents had the appeal of offering farmers a way to rid their fields once and for all of organisms that continually threatened their crops and literally ate up their profits. But this promise has proven to be false. Pesticides (i.e., insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides) can dramatically lower pest populations in the short term, but because they also kill pests’ natural enemies, pest populations can often quickly rebound and reach even greater numbers than before. The farmer is then forced to use even more of the chemical agents. The dependence on pesticide use that results has been called the “pesticide treadmill.” Augmenting the dependence problem is the phenomenon of increased resistance: pest populations continually exposed to pesticides are subjected to intense selection for pesticide resistance. When resistance among the pests increases, farmers are forced to apply larger amounts of pesticide or to use different pesticides, further contributing to the conditions that promote even greater resistance. Resistance to pesticides is exacerbated by the emergence of cross-resistance in pest populations, in which evolved resistance to one type of pesticide confers resistance to other, not necessarily related pesticides.
Climate Change and its Impact on Plant–Microbe Interaction
Published in Javid A. Parray, Suhaib A. Bandh, Nowsheen Shameem, Climate Change and Microbes, 2022
In many developing countries, recent farming ways follow unsustainable practices and have brought about a too enormous amount of unhealthful effluents being discharged into the air, soil, and water. Currently, various chemicals used in agriculture (i.e., pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides) and synthetic manures getting utilized non-wisely that have unfavorably influenced beneficial soil microbiota. Applied science and nanomaterials have additionally confused the condition of inputs of soil and their degradation (Mishra et al., 2017). As per published reports, the indiscriminate use of xenobiotics ends up in ecological imbalances and environmental issues (Li and Jennings, 2017). Pesticides are xenobiotics that are significant agents in modern agriculture because of their effect on crop productivity and overall profit. The pesticide is used to control or kill the pests. Some examples of pesticides include herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. These pesticides sometimes applied directly to the soil or can be involved in the form of sprays, which results in deposition of pesticide particles in nature.
Fitwel®
Published in Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem, Building for Well-Being, 2021
Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem
Key to healthy building operations, Promoting the establishment and implementation of a Green Purchasing Policy (GPP) is the first line of defense against unhealthy materials. This type of policy ensures that materials brought into the building will conform to standards that preserve high IAQ standards and limit chemical contaminant sources such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For multi-tenant buildings (MTBB, MWB) projects must implement a Green Purchasing Policy that is applied both within the project and is also included in leases or a tenant manual. For CI or ST buildings, the GPP must be applied to all spaces within the project. The Green Purchasing Policy must abide by a prescribed purchasing framework and develop an implementation plan for the selection of products and services with beneficial health and environmental impacts. Many accepted guidelines include sustainable products that contain recycled materials, are a product of a production process that conserves natural resources and prevents air pollution, or contains fewer toxic substances than alternate, traditional products. Similarly, Establishing and implementing an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Plan can help to mitigate harmful effects of pesticides and other pest treatment. Requirements include an IPM that is applied to the entire building, with a detailed plan for pest inspections, pest population monitoring, control methods, the use of pesticides, and more. These strategies help to minimize or manage harmful materials that may have to be in a building, while all improve the indoor quality of the project.
Phytoremediation of cadmium-trichlorfon co-contaminated water by Indian mustard (Brassica juncea): growth and physiological responses
Published in International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2023
Chao Zhang, Feng He, Lanzhou Chen
A large amount of heavy metals and pesticides enter the environment with the rapid development of industry and agriculture, thus forming combined pollution in various environmental media (Chen et al. 2014; Qie et al. 2023). Compared to single pollution, combined pollution is more likely to pose a greater threat to the environment (Zhang et al. 2012). Industrial wastewater discharge, sewage irrigation, and the application of agrochemicals including plant nutrients, fertilizers, and pesticides, can result in a sharp increase in heavy metal concentration in the agricultural environment (Rattan et al. 2005; Dmuchowski et al. 2011; Lopes et al. 2011). In aquatic ecosystems, the bioaccumulation, toxicity, and persistence of heavy metals can cause serious pressure on water self-purification. Pesticides are chemical or biological agents that aim to destroy, prevent, or mitigate pests. Although many pesticides can be degraded naturally (Zhang et al. 2010, Herrero-Hernandez et al. 2020), the original pesticides and their degradation products can lead to the contamination of water, soil, and living organisms and thus may become a public health problem (Escoto et al. 2019).
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022 on groundwater, a synthesis
Published in LHB, 2022
Types of pesticides commonly used in agriculture include insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. When improperly applied or disposed of, they can pollute soil and water resources with carcinogens and other toxic substances, while their degradation products can be hazardous to the terrestrial and aquatic biosphere, as well as to human health. The global market in pesticides is worth more than US $35 billion per year. Contamination with organic micro-pollutants, like pesticides, in agricultural areas is less documented in emerging economies. However, where the issues have been investigated in vulnerable socio-economic environments with intensive agriculture, results have shown the presence of contaminants in excessive concentrations, indicating an emerging environmental and health hazard of critical concern (55).
Impact of intrauterine exposure to the insecticide coragen on the developmental and genetic toxicity in female albino rats
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2022
Amel Ramadan Omar, Ahmed Emam Dakrory, Marwa Mohamed Abdelaal, Heba Bassiony
Despite the potential adverse effects of pesticides on the living organisms including human and the environment, they are still widely used in agriculture due to their benefits to control insects-borne diseases, increase agricultural productivity and control of various pests [1,2]. Pesticides could be taken into the body through oral, inhalation or dermal routes after being ingested in food, drinking water, residential or occupational ways [3]. The biological activity and severity of the pesticides’ toxicity impacts are determined by the type of chemical, the dose, the route and the period of exposure [3]. There are numerous chemical classes of pesticides, which may be insecticide, fungicide or herbicide. Ryanodine is a toxic natural alkaloid isolated from plant Ryania speciose and is best used as insecticide [4]. Chemically synthetic ryanodine compounds such as chlorantraniliprole, flubendiamide, cyantraniliprole, cyclaniliprole and tetraniliprole, are called diamide insecticides that opens muscular calcium channels [5]. Chlorantraniliprole with 18.5% or 20% SC active ingredient in insecticide, has the trade name coragen, that we have investigated in our study. Coragen is being used to fight various types of flies and their larvae [6–8].