BL3205

Biological Risk Management

Pesticide POPs
(Persistent Organic Pollutants)
And IPM alternatives
POPs are…..
 Carbon-based compounds or mixtures that are
Toxic
Resistant to normal processes that break down
contaminants in the body
Not readily excreted and accumulate in body fat
Can evaporate and travel great distances
12 toxic organochlorines
 Even at low levels these chemicals present a a hazard
because they build up in the body fat of organisms and
become increasingly concentrated as they move
through the food web
 12 POPs have been identified as particularly dangerous
(these are all organochlorine compounds):
Aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor,
hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, PCBs, dioxins and
furans
Health effects of POPs
 Acute exposure to organochlorines in tropical
agriculture has caused large numbers of deaths and
injuries, including severe nervous system and liver
damage
 They are also endocrine disrupters which can interfere
with the body’s hormonal system
 Reproductive failure and stunted penises found in
Florida’s alligators result from exposure to these
chemicals
 Also linked to decline of otters in Europe, extinction of
native lake trout in the Great Lakes weakened immune
systems of marine mammals
Pre-natal exposures
 Endocrine disruptors can alter development
during pre-natal life and undermine the ability to
learn, to fight off disease, and to reproduce.
 Linked to immune dysfunction, neurological and
behavioural abnormalities and reproductive
disorders in people
 Threaten the health, behaviour and intelligence
of the next generation
Use as insecticides
 9 of these 12 chemicals are chemicals that came into
widespread use after Word War II as pesticides
 Legal and illegal use continues in developing countries
 Public health officials still rely on DDT to control
malaria-carrying mosquitoes (the only legal use of this
pesticide, but illegal use on agricultural crops continues)
 Mirex still used against leaf-cutter ants
 Chordane and heptachlor still used against termites
Problems of substitution
 Many pesticides used today (e.g.
organophosphates and carbamate insecticides)
are more acutely toxic to people, wildlife, aquatic
organisms and beneficial insects than the older
persistent pesticides that they replaced
 Organophosphates particularly have made
agricultural workers ill , and pose a hazard to the
development of children
A pesticide treadmill?
 Farmers have found that application of pesticides can
increase their pest problems and forced them to use
more pesticides!
 This is because agricultural ecosystems are disrupted:
beneficial insects are eliminated
 Regular use of pesticides also encourages the
evoloution of superbugs that resist the action of
pesticides, and new pests have emerged after the use
of pesticides
Illegal pesticide use
 Almost all industrialised countries have banned POPs pesticides
as have many developing countries – but this does not mean
they are not used
 In India, banned agricultural pesticides like chlordane, heptachlor
and DDT can be found on sale in local markets
 Governments lack resources and infrastructure to enforce
legislation
 Some POPs pesticides still produced legally for specific
restricted uses such as disease vector control e.g. DDT
 In some parts of the world (Africa, eastern Europe) people can
steal from large stockpiles of obsolete pesticide and repackage
them
DDT and disease control
alternatives
 Currently use in a number of countries, principally for
controlling malaria and other tropical diseases
 In Tanzania – use of bed nets treated with synthetic
pyrethroids
 Phillipines – Malaria Control Service replaced DDT with
alternative insecticides used in rotation proved equally
effective
 Case detections and treatment an important weapon,
also elimination of breeding sites (e.g. bans on plastic
bags!)
Integrated pest management
 We need solutions appropriate for the site, the
agricultural system, and the local culture and economy
 Diverse methods, ranging from cultural to chemical
controls, relying more on information and management
 The ultimate goal is to use ecologically based IPM - a
systems approach to pest management that is based on
an understanding of pest ecology.
 The introduction of IPM has been fostered by Farmer
Field Schools
Integrated Pest Management
Techniques
 Cultural controls – use of crop rotation and crop
mixtures, timed planting to reduce pests
 Mechanical and physical controls – pest
barriers and insect traps
 Biological controls – direct introduction of natural
enemies (insect predators, parasites, diseases
pathogens). Also indirect encouragement of already
present enemies
IPM (cont.)
 Biorational methods – deployment of
pheremones to attract pests (decoys) or to
disrupt mating, release of sterilised insects to
limit reproduction, manipulation of the
atmosphere in closed storage areas to kill pests
 Chemical controls – the use of less toxic
pesticides as a last resort
Cotton Farmers in Peru’s Canete
valley
 An explosion of resistant pests in the 1950s threatened
cotton production
 The government banned the use of synthetic pesticides
and worked with farmers to introduce an IPM strategy
 Used short-season cotton varieties that matured before
the onslaught of boll weevils, bollworms and other pests
 Earlier harvest reduced rain damage and gave farmers
time to plough under the stalks to combat boll weevils
and pink bollworm
 Reintroduction of beneficial insects and crop rotation
further enhanced IPM
Cotton growing in USA
 Yields in California declined by 20% in 1995 despite
increased pesticide applications
 A project was set up called Biological Agricultural
Systems in Cotton
 Growers stopped applying pesticides early in the
season to foster naturally occurring beneficial insects
and motes, also released additional predatory mites and
lacewings
 Growers planted cotton near alfalfa, which serves as a
trap crop (decoy crop) for the lygus bug as well as
providing food for beneficial insects
 Further information:

WWF/Pesticide Action Network North America

(1999) Successful, Safe and Sustainable
Alternatives to Persistent Organic Pollutants