This
issue of Pesticides News contains a number of articles that deal with the damage
to human and environmental health caused by organophosphorus pesticides (OPs).
Elizabeth Sigmund of the OP Information Network reviews recent research and
developments. The UK Labour Party wants a moratorium on the use of OPs. Our fact
sheet in this issue is devoted to the group of OP insecticides in general, in
response to queries we received.
And in the last few weeks, the UK Ministry of Defence
admitted that service personnel in the Gulf may have been exposed to more OP
insecticides than was first thought. We have four points of concern in response
to this announcement:
Although some of the OP insecticides used in the Gulf are permitted for use in the UK (apart from dimethyl phosphorothionate), only malathion is allowed for use on humans in the form of head lice treatment. Have diazinon, azamethidophos and dimethyl phosphorothionate been adequately tested for use on humans? OPs are generally recognised as having the potential to cause longer-term damage to human health because of their effects on the nervous system.
Service personnel may have been exposed to mixtures of insecticides. Research already shows that exposure to particular OPs in combination can be more toxic to wildlife than the sum of the individual effects.
Service personnel may have been exposed to mixtures of insecticides and anti-nerve gas agents. Research also shows that anti-nerve gas agents can greatly increase the toxicity of particular insecticides to humans and lead to adverse neurological effects.
Many
of these chemicals were bought locally. Although the export trade in
hazardous pesticides from Europe has gradually been restricted, there is
increasing concern at the quality of manufacture of such products elsewhere
in the world. Dangerous pesticides can be even more dangerous to people if
they are of poor quality and contain impurities.
| PAN International conference, 18-22 May
1997, Cuba on the theme: Feeding the world without poisons: supporting healthy agriculture which will address a range of issues, linking to the need to promote food security and attract wider support for sustainable agricultural methods, while continuing to draw attention to the increasing health and environmental problems of pesticides. Contact the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] for further information. |
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 34,
December 1996, page 2]