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Agrochemicals: A Brief Overview
Published in Dongyou Liu, Handbook of Foodborne Diseases, 2018
Various chemicals active toward insects, mites, nematodes, weed seeds, fungi, or rodents are used for soil or structural fumigation, or for fumigating postharvest commodities. They are in the gaseous form at the time they exert their pesticidal action but can be liquids that readily vaporize (e.g., ethylene dibromide), solids that can release a toxic gas on reaction with water (e.g., phosphine released by aluminum phosphide), or gases (e.g., methyl bromide). Fumigation of postharvest commodities, such as wheat, cereals, and fruits, to eradicate pest infestations, typically occurs where the commodities are stored (e.g., warehouses, grain elevators, and ship holds). After treatment, mechanical ventilation aerates the commodity until concentration of the fumigant decreases to safe levels. Methyl bromide has been extensively used as a fumigant for several decades, but it is thought to contribute to ozone depletion in the stratosphere, and for this reason it has been phased out worldwide (121). In recent years, 1,3-Dichloropropene has been increasingly used as a replacement for methyl bromide, because of its relatively favorable toxicological and environmental profiles (122,123). Another alternative to methyl bromide is metam-sodium, widely used as a soil fumigant (124). Its toxic action toward soil nematodes, fungi, and weed seeds are due to its hydrolysis product, methyl isothiocyanate (MITC), which is also a metabolite in mammals (125). Acute toxicity is low, but it can act as a contact sensitizer, inducing allergic dermatitis, which is attributable to MITC (126). Sulfur compounds are also widely used as pesticides, including fumigants. For example, elemental sulfur, considered the oldest of all pesticides and used by the Greeks as early as 1000 BC (127) still represents one of the most heavily used crop protection chemicals, and it can be used in organic farming (128). Sulfur dioxide is used as a fumigant because of its antimicrobial properties, particularly in the treatment of grapes held in cold storage. Sulfuryl fluoride is also used as a fumigant, particularly for structural fumigation and for postharvest fumigation of stored commodities.
Role of age-sex as underlying risk factors for death in acute pesticide self-poisoning: a prospective cohort study
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2022
Firouzeh Noghrehchi, Andrew H. Dawson, Jacques E. Raubenheimer, Nicholas A. Buckley
Pesticides were defined as agricultural chemicals including carbamates, organophosphorus insecticides, pyrethroids, other insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, and other pesticides (i.e., metam sodium, metaldehyde, calcium metaphosphate, nitroguaiacol). The pesticide ingested was identified based on identification of container or history. Overall, there were 201 active ingredients in the pesticides ingested by patients. A small number of patients (n = 454) were excluded due to ingestion of multiple pesticides.