Pesticide Manufacturing and Toxic Materials Control Encyclopedia

Abstract

This book contains a mass of information useful to those working on pollution control. It is intended to supplement and not replace the Pesticide Manual (BCPC), from which it draws extensively. Apart from general chapters on pesticides, it contains some useful statistics of pesticide use (USA). Pesticides individually are listed from A to Z. Herbicides account for some 160 of the 514 chemicals here listed and the common herbicide antidotes and plant growth regulators have also here their place. (MCPA for some reason, is listed as a fungicide!) Bacillus thuringiensis (microbial insecticide) is included. The information given on pesticides includes the chemical name and structural formula, trade names (USA, UK and others), the method of manufacture (a feature is the numerous diagrammatical representations of process flow), an indication of product wastes and means of disposal and a raw materials index. It is noted in passing that in the data on 2,4,5-T it is not exactly explained where the dioxin contaminant arises and how this can be minimized. There is information on exposure limits (threshold limits in p.p.m. where available) and on residue tolerances in a wide range of crops and, where appropriate, in meat and animal products. The references under each pesticide are said to include all patents, not excepting expired ones. It claims to be a book with a conscience and contains reference to all the legal actions taken by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) against suspected carcinogens and teratogens and is thus an interesting pointer for other countries wanting information about potential health hazards, but it is not "encyclopedic" enough to be used without further reading and/or expert advice. The authors press for more studies on the fate of many pesticide compounds in man and remark more than once that "it is difficult to understand how a compound could have come to be so extensively used when so little is known of its fate in mammalian systems, as well as in soil and the environment". Anyone dipping into this massive volume, should at least read the foreword which puts things into perspective... "It is appreciated that some pesticides are subject to restrictions or even bans on their use in some countries. In many less developed countries, however, concern for the prevention of spread of pest-borne disease and concern for adequate food supplies outweigh some environmental and ecological considerations". In other words, each user can decide on the basis of a risk/benefit assessment whether a particular chemical should be used or not, e.g. banning DDT could lead to a new malaria problem. (In this connection it should be noted that DDT is in fact not banned in the USA but its use restricted to disease vector control and body lice). This book helps to present some of the facts and point to areas where more knowledge is needed to help in making those decisions. Nancy Kiley. ADDITIONAL ABSTRACT: This volume replaces an earlier one which is now out of print [see RAE/A 65, 4676; B 65, 2232] on pesticides (including insecticides, synthetic insect pheromones and preparations of Bacillus thuringiensis) and has been completely revised; over 100 out-of-date pesticides have been deleted and 72 new ones added. An attempt is made to gather together all available information on commercially important pesticides, with special attention to manufacturing processes, exposures and allowable exposures in the factory, effluent discharges, mammalian toxicity, and allowable residues on agricultural produce. The many groups of workers for which this encyclopaedia may be of interest include pesticide manufacturers, growers, food processors, legislators and public health officials. An introductory account is given of the manufacture, formulation and use of pesticides and pollution problems during manufacture. There follows a review of controls and restrictions on manufacture, exposure, residues and pollution. Environmentally acceptable alternatives to conventional pesticide use are discussed, including biodegradable pesticides, mechanical control of toxic pesticides, biological control, pheromones and integrated pest management. The main part of the volume is then devoted to an alphabetical account of the chemical name, formula, function, trade names, raw materials required, and synthesis and permissible residues of over 500 pesticides. The data on manufacturing processes are drawn mainly from the patent literature of the USA and UK, and data on toxicity and residues are derived from published and unpublished material from the US Environmental Protection Agency.