Product Description
*Exposes the massive hidden health and environmental costs of rampant pesticide use
*Presents an array of cheaper, safer alternatives to pesticides used by millions of farmers around the world
*Written by leading international agricultural and biological scientists supported by The Global Integrated Pest Management Facility of the FAO

Since the 1960s the world’s population has more than doubled and agricultural production per person has increased by a third, largely because of widespread pesticide use. Yet this growth in production has masked enormous hidden costs -- massive ecological damage and high incidences of farmer poisoning and chronic health effects.
Yet in recent years millions of farmers in communities around the world have been identifying harmful pesticides and developing cheaper and safer alternatives. "The Pesticide Detox" explores the potential for the phasing-out of hazardous pesticides and the phasing-in of cost-effective alternatives already available on the market. This book makes clear that it is time to start the pesticide detox and to move towards a more sustainable agriculture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The new pesticide
Over the past 40 years, world population, the use of modernized farming methods, and farming production have gone up. Modernized farming uses hazardous pesticides. But does it have to? Where are pesticides used? Are there alternatives? And what can be done to replace pesticides with alternative controls?

More than 800 different pesticides are regularly used throughout the world. They're used to protect crop yields from diseases and pests. Just under 4/5 of all pesticides are used outside the United States. The developing countries are the part of the world where companies plan to hugely increase pesticide sales and use.

But pesticides are damaging to the environment. They're not just hazardous to people who make and use them. Scientists keep on studying the effects of pesticides on animals, birds, bugs, other green things, people, places and water. But the chain of cause and effect isn't always easy to prove, show and tell. That's particularly the case when the audience is people making money from pesticide sales and use!

Editor Jules Pretty says alternatives can replace pesticides. Alternatives can be based on bacteria, certain nematodes, fungi or viruses. They can include parasitoids and predators. When tested with 80 crop combinations, alternatives came up with workable results. Crop yields went up acceptably, with cut-back pesticide use and with alternatives.

Pretty says that what's needed are political will, consumer awareness, and market response. But what can change national policies, international conventions, and programs? Pretty says to start on the level of appropriate taxing, education and environmental action. Specifically, for example, taking away subsidies and putting in effect high taxes would make pesticides less affordable. The list of registered pesticides could be reviewed. The most toxic pesticides could be taken off. Less hazardous alternatives could be added. Also, cooperative extension schools could be set up in the field. Agricultural colleges could have their courseload updated to cover alternatives as well as they're already covering pesticides! All three steps would make alternatives better known. Maximum residue limits could be set, checked and enforced. That would cut down the use of pesticides and increase the use of alternatives.

THE PESTICIDE DETOX is a well-organized and -written book. The editor and the contributing writers include helpful charts, examples, graphs and illustrations. There's a good index and set of references. The subject is now. It's dealt with in such a way that the problems are clear. And there are actually workable solutions! What more could a girl ask? ... Read more

Product Description
Pesticides have contributed impressively to our present-dayagricultural productivity, but at the same time they are at the centerof serious concerns about safety, health, and the environment.Increasingly, the public wonders whether the benefits of pesticides- `the perfect red apple' - outweigh the costs ofenvironmental pollution, human illness, and the destruction of animalsand our habitat. Scientists and government officials are suspected ofpromoting commercial interests rather than protecting human welfare. ... Read more

Product Description
This book brings together over 30 contributors with expertise in a variety of disciplines related to the topic. Although efforts continue toward reduction or elimination of pesticide chemicals in the management of pests in agriculture, public health and the urban arena, chemicals will continue to be one of the main weapons in control of insects, weeds, nematodes, plant diseases, etc. for some time to come. While considerable information is known about the acute toxicity of these compounds, information on the chronic effects from exposure to minute amounts of pesticide residues in food, water, air and soil is often very limited. This book approaches the topic from several different vantage points including pesticide epidemiology, new modes of action to minimize nontarget exposure, bioremediation of contaminated areas, molecular biology of the modes of action and detoxication of pesticides, and the dynamics of pesticide movement in the environment.

As world leaders in the manufacture and use of pesticides, countries must cooperate in the search for safer pesticides with minimum chronic effects on humans and the environment. This book helps to remove the barriers of distance and language and should lead to new cooperative research efforts across country lines and discipline lines.

Contents:Epidemiology of PesticidesChronic Effects of Pesticides on HealthSafer InsecticidesBioremediation of Pesticide ResiduesBiochemical and Molecular Biology of PesticidesPesticide Ecology/Dynamics ... Read more

Product Description
Many of the pesticides applied to food crops in this country are present in foods in trace amounts. Current regulations are intended to minimize the general population's exposure to these residues while ensuring an abundant and wholesome food supply. This book explores whether infants and children differ from adults in susceptibility and in dietary exposures to pesticide residues, and if so, whether present regulatory approaches adequately protect them. The book summarizes the current status of pesticide use, relevant data collection methods such as food consumption surveys, methods for toxicity testing, and federal pesticide regulation. Details the special characteristics of children--growth, development, metabolism--and analyzes toxicity information based on their exposure to pesticides. ... Read more

Product Description
A result of important bilateral scientific agreements between the U.S. and the Soviet Union on the fate of chemicals and pesticides in the environment. Written by experts in both countries, it familiarizes the reader with recent state-of-the-art research being conducted in the areas of agricultural management and water pollution control. A number of models are provided to give the reader a concise grasp of exposure and ecological risk assessments involving these pollutants. Focuses on the necessity to improve our deteriorating standards of public health, environmental science and technology with a total systems approach through the pooled talents of scientists and engineers. ... Read more

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Explores the agricultural, economic, and regulatory factors that affect pesticide use. Examines crop and pest ecology, integrated pest management principles, and emerging analytical tools to improve the efficacy and cost-efficiency of pest control applications. ... Read more

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The contributors provide a perspective on the fate and transport of pesticides in the soil environment with the goal of helping evaluate the effectiveness of pesticides for pest control and the impact of pesticide use on environmental health. The publication includes discussion on the pathways of pesticides from their entry into the environment through their progression in the various retention, transformation, and transport processes under various conditions.

Also available:

Physical and Chemical Processes of Water and Solute Transport/Retention in Soils - ISBN 089118835
Challenges and Strategies for Dryland Agriculture - ISBN 0891185542

The American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America are prominent international scientific societies headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. The Societies specialize in peer-reviewed, high-quality science titles for a wide variety of audiences.
Some of the many areas we publish in include:

-Soils Methods and Management
-Crop Development and Improvement
-Agrosystem Management and the Global Food Crisis
-Environmental Conservation and Climatology ... Read more

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Contributed articles. ... Read more

Product Description
This new volume offers comprehensive information on microbial adaptation for pesticide degradation. Among the many topics covered in its 20 chapters are a general description of enhanced biodegradation as it occurs in an agricultural context; the microbial aspects of enhanced biodegradation, including the genetics, biochemistry, and ecology of pesticide-degrading microorganisms; and the potential impact of enhanced degradation on pesticide fate in aquatic systems and groundwater. Practical options for the management of enhanced biodegradation are also examined, both to enable continued agricultural use of susceptible pesticides and also to exploit the degrading capacity of microorganisms for waste disposal and environmental remediation. ... Read more

Product Description
Over the last five decades pesticides have undoubtedly helped to increase agricultural production and control vectors of disease, however the environmental impact of long term agro-chemical use has been cause for concern along with the effects on human health.

In Pesticides, Graham Matthews begins by looking at the developmental history of pesticides, and how crop protection was achieved before they were in use, how pesticides are registered for use and what happens to pesticides in food and the environment. Pesticide application and operator safety is investigated and the future of pesticides in light of the development of genetically modified crops is explored.

• Provides commercially important information for the agro-chemical industry
  
• Addresses all aspects of public concern relating to human health and the environment, including spray drift, bystander, resident and worker exposure
  
• Looks at the future of pesticides in light of the increasing prevalence of genetically modified crops

Collecting together the most recent research in the area in a single volume, this book is a vital resource for agricultural scientists, agronomists, plant scientists, plant pathologists, entomologists, environmental scientists, public health personnel, toxicologists, crop protection personnel and all those involved in the agrochemical industry and government pesticide registration and legislation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An expert scientific text
Written by pesticide expert Graham Matthews (Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Biosciences, Imperial College of London), Pesticides: Health, Safety and the Environment is a scholarly resource for agriculture science students and professionals concerning the history, application, hazards and future of pesticides. Pesticides: Health, Safety and the Environment seeks to balance the increased food and agricultural productivity pesticides can bring a heavily populated planet with the necessary precautions of applying pesticides only when needed and according to a strict registration process with guidelines, in order to minimize harm to human beings and the environment. Black-and-white photographs illustrate the close examination of techniques of pesticide application, how to prevent operator exposure to harmful toxins, dealing with spray drift, bystander, resident and worker exposure, and hopes for the future to keep the harmful side effects of pesticides under tight control. An expert scientific text filling a much-needed void in scholarly and instructional writings on pesticide application technology and procedures. Also highly recommended is Professor Matthews' previous book, "Pesticide Application Methods". ... Read more