On cover: Health protection of the consumer

"The WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard was approved by the 28th World Health Assembly in 1975 and has since gained wide acceptance. When it was published in the WHO Chronicle, 29, 397-401 (1975), an annex, which was not part of the Classification, illustrated its use by listing examples of classification of some pesticidal active ingredients and their formulations. Later suggestions were made by Member States and pesticide registration authorities that further guidance should be given on the classification of individual pesticides. Guidelines were first issued in 1978, and have since been revised and reissued every few years. Up until the present revision the original guidelines approved by the World Health Assembly in 1975 have been followed without amendment. In December, 2002 the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (UNCETDG/GHS) approved a document called 'The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals' with the intent to provide a globally-harmonized system1 (GHS) to address classification of chemicals, labels, and safety data sheets. The GHS (with subsequent revisions) is now being widely used for the classification and labeling of chemicals worldwide. For this revision of the Classification the WHO Hazard Classes have been aligned in an appropriate way with the GHS Acute Toxicity Hazard Categories for acute oral or dermal toxicity as the starting point for allocating pesticides to a WHO Hazard Class (with adjustments for individual pesticides where required). It is anticipated that few of the more toxic pesticides will change WHO Hazard Class as a result of this change. As has always been the case, the classification of some pesticides has been adjusted to take account of severe hazards to health other than acute toxicity (as described in Part II). The GHS Acute Toxicity Hazard Category for each pesticide is now presented alongside the existing information"--Page 1.

This book is compiled of 24 Chapters divided into 4 Sections. Section A focuses on toxicity of organic and inorganic insecticides, organophosphorus insecticides, toxicity of fenitrothion and permethrin, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). Section B is dedicated to vector control using insecticides, biological control of mosquito larvae by Bacillus thuringiensis, metabolism of pyrethroids by mosquito cytochrome P40 susceptibility status of Aedes aegypti, etc. Section C describes bioactive natural products from sapindacea, management of potato pests, flower thrips, mango mealy bug, pear psylla, grapes pests, small fruit production, boll weevil and tsetse fly using insecticides. Section D provides information on insecticide resistance in natural population of malaria vector, role of Anopheles gambiae P450 cytochrome, genetic toxicological profile of carbofuran and pirimicarp carbamic insecticides, etc. The subject matter in this book should attract the reader's concern to support rational decisions regarding the use of pesticides.

This book discusses studies that have been conducted on various animal species. The book reviews the effects of pesticides through changes in behavior, the nature of morphological and biochemical lesions, as well as the tracking of the metabolic disposition of pesticides in target sites of an organism. In vitro studies provide information regarding cellular responses and biochemical lesions with pesticides. Toxicological profiles of pesticides are cited using different species of animals for in vivo and in vitro studies. This information should help scientists and decision-makers reach conclusions regarding the toxicological effects of pesticides on humans and the environment.

The book covers the various aspects of the use of pesticides, their behavior, degradation, and impacts in wetland ricefields, and presents the results of surveys conducted in the Philippines and Thailand. It includes both bibliographic reviews and selected aspects of the experimental results of a research project on pesticide impacts in wetland ricefields. The first phase of the `Pesticide Impact' project was developed in the Philippines from 1989 to 1991. It was a multidisciplinary/collaborative approach involving scientists from IRRI, NRI (England), ORSTOM (France), UPLB (Philippines) who studied the effects of pesticides on the environment and on farmers' health, and the economical aspects of their use.

Attempts to explain what pesticides are, where, why and how they are used, what the health risks associated with them are and what legislation and regulations exist around them.