The Dangers of Chemical Pesticides
Pesticides are chemical substances that are used to kill, repel, or regulate the growth of biological organisms. This diverse group includes insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, nematicides, acaricides, rodenticides, avicides, wood preservatives, and antifoulants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently estimated that more than 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are applied to crops, forests, residential areas, public lands, and aquatic areas in the United States every year. The release of these chemicals into the environment creates a potential for unintended adverse health impacts to both humans and surrounding wildlife. (Laetz, Baldwin and Collier)
Pesticide Regulation
Mixtures of pesticides are common in the human food supply. These mixtures are also common in the aquatic environment, including lakes, river, streams, and other surface waters that support aquatic life. Assessing the cumulative toxicity of pesticides in mixtures has been a difficult challenge for environmental health research, as well as ecotoxicology, for the past several decades. In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act, which directs the U.S. EPA to assess the human health risks from cumulative exposures to pesticides that share a common mechanism of action. Consideration of mixture toxicity is also required when pesticide tolerances are reassessed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.