Currently, in order to increase productivity and combat pests of crops, as well as weeds, agricultural chemistry widely uses all kinds of pesticides: fungicides, herbicides, defoliants, insecticides and so on. It is scientifically proven that a very significant part of these substances and their decomposition products in any case fall into food products. Pesticides in agriculture are a kind of collective name for biological and chemical agents that are widely used to combat plant diseases and pests of grain, wood, leather, wool, cotton products, weeds, vector carriers of animal and human diseases, ectoparasites torturing pets.
Chemicalization of agriculture, the methods of which pursue important goals, has spread widely among all countries of the world. This term implies a set of measures that is based on the results and conclusions of the chemical industry and agrochemical science. It lies in the systematic and widespread use of chemical methods and tools. First of all, this is done to increase the yield, improve the quality of agricultural products and soil properties. In addition, it is believed that pesticides in agriculture increase livestock productivity and protect beneficial organisms from adverse environmental conditions, as well as diseases and pests.
Pesticides in agriculture are also used in order to improve the appearance of grain, vegetables and fruits, as well as to increase the shelf life of various plants. The whole problem is that pesticides, when they enter the human body with food, change the course of biological processes, as a result of which many physiological functions are disrupted. This pathological process is difficult to diagnose. Pesticides can have a toxic effect on the body, as they are foreign substances to it. They affect the internal organs and central nervous system, and even have a mutogenic effect.
Pesticides in agriculture are used despite the fact that they are extremely dangerous for human health. But their toxic properties directly depend on the concentration, chemical structure, duration of exposure and how they enter the body. The most commonly used organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides in agriculture. The first group is not very persistent in the environment, they usually decompose within a couple of months. And the remains of such pesticides are destroyed if food products are subjected to heat treatment. Symptoms of poisoning by them depend on how they enter the body. If such pesticides penetrate the skin, then muscle fibrillation can occur, through the LCD tract - vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and intestinal cramps, with air - damage to the autonomic and central nervous system, difficulty breathing. Unlike organophosphorus pesticides, organochlorines are retained in the soil for decades. They accumulate in animal and vegetable products. The harmful effects of this group of pesticides affect only the central nervous system.
Pesticides, as well as their metabolic products, are excreted mainly through the kidneys, and volatile pesticides through the lungs. Hypersensitivity to these toxic chemicals are pregnant women, the elderly, young children and nursing mothers. Often no one can understand what exactly pesticides caused the pathological processes in the liver, lungs, cardiovascular system and many more diseases.