[Pesticides in rural pathology]

Abstract

Reference is made to the extensive use of pesticides in agriculture and the fact that many are highly toxic. The lack of information and legislative provisions makes agricultural workers particularly vulnerable to the several categories of poisons contained under the description "pesticides". The chlorinated and phosphoric organic compounds are of especial interest. The former include the derivatives of the phenoxycarboxylic acids, which can give rise to a product (tetrachlorobenzodioxine, or dioxine) that was responsible for the pollution at Seveso. The latter group contains the very commonly employed alkylthiophosphates (malathion, parathion, etc.). These are well-known inhibitors of acetylcholine esterase and thus responsible for harm to the nervous system. A comparable, but less intense effect on this esterase is possessed by the carbamates, which are increasingly being used in agriculture. It is hoped that, as in the past, suitable, oriented epidemiological surveys will be carried out in industry, designed to focus attention on the probable, but not yet documented chronic damage that many of these products cause to the human body.